


Space Age Love Song

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anime Cliches, F/F, Lance is a terrible but enthusiastic wingman, Occasional angst, hormonal idiots, space lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 17:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7323685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bit by bit Pidge and Allura find a strange feeling, sudden and new, in each other's arms. Expect shenanigans, terrible wingmen, and occasional angst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aesthetics

“OK, so here’s what I’ve got set up,” announced Pidge to the group. Most of the team was sitting in chairs in what had been/still kind of was her room, but she had modified roughly half of it into a lab. She enjoyed working in her own space for projects rather than the larger ship lab. Coran and Hunk were absent, being currently occupied with cooking. She pointed at a big screen filled with text and images in the middle of the room.

“We know the lions are sentient to some degree or another. Still trying to figure out _how_ , but this new program should let us monitor their electromagnetic levels and their interactions with our brains and bodies more closely.”

“So can this actually help us, like, fight?” said Lance, leaning back in his chair. Pidge took note of his posture, thinking that he’d tip over if he wasn’t careful.

“Well, by doing what I just said, you should be able to bond with your lions without as much hassle. But, y’know, who knows if _that_ could help in fights.”

Lance rolled his eyes at the slightly patronizing, smart-aleck tone.

Shiro spoke up next. “Interesting. Though, isn’t this going to make our bonds with the lions seem less...magical?”

A shrug. “Eh, not really. Knowing where the magic comes from doesn’t remove it.”

“So, when can we look at these?” Keith asked, tapping his foot.

“Don’t be so impatient,” Pidge chided, but with amusement. “I should be able to install them within the week.” Keith was always the hardest one to read out of the group, but his feelings were loud and clear on this one.

Allura walked closer to the screen, and Pidge felt a hand on her chair. “What does this mean?” she said, pointing to a line of code. Pidge looked up at her. The princess’ face was intent and focused on the screen. A spike of strange, nervous energy went through Pidge. It had been happening more often lately, especially around Allura. She wasn’t sure _why_ , though.

“Oh, ah, that’s a secondary part of the program. It can translate the readings into a different recognition pattern for full-text examinations.” As she talked further, she quietly observed Allura. She had never been this close to the princess for an extended period, never taken in the true _details_ of Allura’s face and body before. Among other things, there was the unique shade of brown on her skin, the individual strands of her white hair, the curve of her shoulders, and those wonderfully odd symbols in her eyes, the colors mixing aqua and magenta.

“Is there anything more we should know?” Allura said. Pidge blinked, realizing she had stopped talking several seconds ago, but was still looking up at her.

“Oh! Uh, no, like I said, I just need to install the systems in the lions, and we should be good.” _Huh_ . _This is just weird. Why’d I stop like that?_

She missed a shared, eyebrows-raised look between Keith and Shiro.

“Well, I certainly appreciate your efforts. I don’t know what we would do without you,” Allura said with a smile.

Pidge felt a warm, yet unfamiliar feeling come over her. She adjusted her glasses, nervous again. “Uh, thanks. No problem.”

Allura took that as a cue to leave, Lance on her heels.

“So, wanna know more about _my_ brain patterns?”

“Not in the next 10,000 years,” Allura said as they left.

Shiro and Keith got closer to Pidge, still typing away at the computer.

“So….” Keith began.

“You kinda spaced out there for a second,” said Shiro. “You OK?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Pidge, her voice neutral. What did they want, anyway?

“You were staring at Allura,” said Keith.

“I wasn’t staring, I was _observing_ ,” said Pidge, now annoyed.

Another unnoticed Look passed between the two older pilots. “What did you observe?” Shiro was clearly trying to hide something. It sounded to her like he thought it was funny. Jerk.

“I believe the correct phrase is ‘none of your business.’ I need to get started on this stuff.” She typed away, trying to block them out.

“I’m just curious,” said Shiro. “And I want to make sure you’re OK.”

Keith nodded in assent.

She sighed. Maybe if she told them, they’d go away. “Look, all I noticed was that her ears have this tapered point to them, and that’s really distinct. And what do those markings on her face mean? Her skin color is so unique too, and her hair! That shade of white is totally unnatural.” She grew more animated and excited as she went on about the flecks of magenta in Allura’s eyes and the patterns in her clothes.

“Call me crazy,” Keith deadpanned as she finished, “but I think you might have a crush.”

“What?!” said Pidge, voice cracking and body stiffening. “That’s ridiculous!”

“You _did_ just give a lot of compliments to a girl on her appearance,” said Shiro.

“I was just….saying that I admire parts of her aesthetically.”

“So, compliments,” said Keith. “But fine, we _won’t_ talk about your crush.” He was enjoying this too, the jerk.

“Lay off a little, Keith,” Shiro said, though his voice still had that amused quality. “We’re in a spaceship; hormones are running wild. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“Yeah, but this is usually a Lance thing.”

“Hey, I’m still here! And are you making fun of me?” Pidge finally demanded, getting up and gesturing with her hands, a blush coming over her face. “It’d never work anyway! She’s a princess and I’m...me! She’s so far out of my league you could measure it in _light years_! What if I mess it up by saying the wrong thing? What if I’m too short? What if-”

“Hey, hey take it easy,” said Shiro, waving his metal arm in a placating way. “We all screw that kind of thing up. It’s part of life. But it’s like I said before: if you’re concentrating too much on the wrong things-”

“-You might miss your chance to do something great,” finished Pidge, a hint of amusement back in her voice. “Yeah, I know. I’ve just….never been good at that.” She recalled an incident where Matt had to step in and smooth things over after she’d reflexively insulted someone asking her out. It had been a boy trying out some truly heinous Lance-style pickup lines.

Her response: “Maybe once your brain evolves out of the Neanderthal state, which, hmm, should only take about another millennium.”

The boy had sneered, countering that, other than his generous offer, she could only get a date out of pity. Thankfully, Matt was able to quell Pidge’s rage before she took a swing at him: “He’s not worth it, sis.”

“You might as well try,” offered Keith. “What do you have to lose?”

A silence settled as Pidge pondered the question. Really, what _did_ she have to lose? Allura was nice enough that if she wasn’t interested, she’d let her down gently, and they could just go back to being friends. If she _was_ interested... “It might be a good… _experiment_ , at least. Thanks, guys.”

She waved them off, sitting back down. “Now shoo. I’ve got work to do.”

“Thanks for helping out there,” said Shiro to Keith as they were walking out. “Didn’t know you had it in you to be a good wingman.”   


“Well, I  _ am _ a pilot,” said Keith, smirking and voice bone-dry. “Besides, Pidge deserves a shot, doesn’t she?”

“That she does.” They walked down the corridor, leaving Pidge alone with her thoughts as she typed away.


	2. An Author's Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The future of this fic is discussed

Hey, so I know it's been a long time since I updated. But fear not, those of you who were kind enough to enjoy this and give comments. The fic is not dead. But after a hiatus, Chip and I have mutually parted ways, and the story is moving forward with a new beta. I hope to have a new chapter posted within the next week or so. Thank you and sorry for the delays!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The new beta is TheEveling, who is lovely and deserves many thanks.


	3. First "Date"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Allura get to know each other through some friendly holodeck competition.

 Allura shifted in her seat as she examined some data in the lab, her brow furrowed and her fingers tented in front of her mouth. The bags under her eyes and her disheveled hair gave the impression that she’d just gotten up and hadn’t bathed yet….which, well, was sort of the truth. She’d had the nightmare again, the one about her father, and was occupying herself with busywork. The data wasn’t that important, just reports of more Galra mistreatment. She sighed, wishing for something that could relieve her burden in some small way.

“Uh, hey, Allura?” A familiar voice cut into her thoughts. She looked over to see Pidge.

“Oh! I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t see you there.” She stood and walked over to her, looking down at the younger girl. “How are the installations going?”

“I finished them, so all they need now is some testing. I, uh, wanted to ask you something, though.”

Allura raised an eyebrow, curious. “Yes? What do you need?”

Pidge backed away somewhat, looking a little sheepish, but finally cleared her throat before speaking.

“So, I’ve been thinking. We haven’t really gotten to know each other, have we? Do you wanna just...hang out between missions sometime?”

“Hang out?” repeated Allura, eyebrow still raised. Human vernacular was so confusing sometimes.

“It just means to spend time together. The two of us. Together,” clarified Pidge.

Allura’s eyes lit up and, with a renewed energy, she leaned down and clasped Pidge’s hands in her own. “What a wonderful idea! I’ve been hoping to do this sort of thing with you for quite some time.”

Pidge seemed taken aback, but gave a genuine if shaky smile in response.

Allura smiled back as she released Pidge’s hands and resumed her former standing position. “Did you have anything particular in mind?”

Now Pidge looked thoughtful. “Well, do you have any games around here?”

_____________________________________________

 After the princess took a well-deserved bath and changed into her armor (Pidge did the same), the pair walked down a few hallways before Allura stopped at a door, which slid open to reveal a large, seemingly empty room.

“I know how it looks,” she said, moving over to a panel on the wall, “but give it a moment.” Her fingers flew nimbly across some buttons, causing a grid made of green lights to appear.

“Whoa! Cool!” Pidge said, grinning widely. “What does this do?”

“Well…” Allura continued, adjusting a few more controls, “it’s a recreational facility that uses holograms.”

“Wait, hold up,” said Pidge. They’d had a HOLODECK this whole time? “You guys have a holodeck?”

“I...suppose that’s one way of referring to it?” said Allura, confused.

Pidge waved it off. “Earth culture thing. I should see if I can get some of it out here.” Admittedly, she also wasn’t sure how well Earth tech would cooperate with Altean tech, but it was worth a shot…. _and they had a holodeck!_

Finally, Allura stopped adjusting and an arena-like structure surrounded them. In the middle was….well, it looked close enough to a net. At the end of each side of the “field” was a series of rings.

An orb-like object appeared in Allura’s hand. “The goal of this game is to get the ball through the rings.” She spun it on one of her fingers, a confident, brash grin appearing on her face. “Shall we play to 10 points?”

Pidge now sported a matching grin. “Bring it on!”

Allura threw the orb up into the air and _slammed_ it towards Pidge’s side. She barely had time to react before it flew past her into a ring, causing a pinging sound to issue from it.

Allura’s grin had grown wider. “Laugh it up, princess,” said Pidge, readying her own swing. She jumped up, hitting the ball with another audible ping. Allura managed to hit it back, but Pidge was ready.

She managed to give it a nice hard smack with both hands, making it sail out of Allura’s reach and scoring a point.

Allura was sweating, breathing hard as she went to retrieve the ball. The sweat gleamed on her skin and in her hair.

Pidge gulped, feeling her face heat up. _Whoa. That’s….certainly aesthetically pleasing._ **_Do you really have to keep couching it like that? You think she’s hot._ ** _Shut up, brain._

She managed to concentrate enough to hit the ball back after another serve, though it skidded behind Allura onto the ground instead of going through a ring.

Allura picked it up and prepared another serve. “You’re doing quite well for a novice. Have you played something like this before?”

“Sort of?” Pidge replied. “Back on Earth, we have something like it called volleyball that we play on the beach.”

“The beach?” The way Allura sounded out the word was almost...cute. “If I ever get the chance to visit Earth, you’ll have to show it to me.” She then served the ball again.

Pidge slammed the ball back, thinking of the bright sun, cool waters, and warm sand of the beach she used to visit with her family. She did miss those sensations. Allura would certainly enjoy them, considering most of her time was spent in colder areas of space.

The game continued as points on both sides racked up. Finally, it came down to a tiebreaker.

Now Pidge was sweating and breathing heavy, though still with a competitive gleam in her eyes. “Had enough?” she taunted. 

“Hardly!” shot back Allura, clearly enjoying it as well. “You’re a worthy opponent, my green paladin.”

 _My green paladin._ The thought brought a warm feeling into Pidge’s chest, so much so that she almost didn’t see the ball coming straight at her.

“Ah!” She tried to hit it, but it was too late. The ping sounded behind her. Allura had won.

____________________________________

 The net and arena dissipated as Allura walked over to the wall and pushed the buttons again. She turned back to Pidge. “I must say, I enjoyed that very much.”

 “Yeah….same….” said Pidge in response, hunched over and breathing heavily. “Hey….do you mind if I take a look at the programs in this? Maybe even try to add some?”

 “Certainly,” said Allura. “In truth, that’s partially why I showed it to you.” A smile returned to her face. “It could use an upgrade after 10,000 years, don’t you think?”

 Pidge grinned. “Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some ideas.”

 “Splendid. I believe I need another bath, so I shall bid you farewell for the moment. You should take one as well.”

 “Sure thing. See you later.”

 Allura left, thinking about the match to herself. She would certainly want quieter times spent with Pidge on occasion, but she hadn’t quite had _fun_ like that since the group food fight. And she had to admit….

Well, Pidge was rather _adorable_ , wasn’t she? A light flush came to her cheeks. She had a sudden urge to play around with that wonderfully messy hair…

__________________________________________________

Pidge started shedding armor in her room, thinking about the match. It had sucked to lose, of course, but somehow it didn’t quite feel so bad given her opponent. Allura was a marvel to watch in motion: powerful, agile, and graceful. So, she mulled in her head, physical attraction was definitely on the table. Seeing if their personalities were compatible, however….she grinned. That might require further study.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo! Finally getting this going again! Many thanks again to TheEveling for picking up beta duties.


	4. Second "Date"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Allura go on a mission together. Things go Bad.

Pidge managed to fill her time between missions and training over the next week by adding and shifting around programs in the rec room. At the moment, she was putting the last touches on something particularly special for Allura. For some reason, Pidge just….felt like doing nice things for her. And not for any benefit or gain, but, well, because Allura could use them. _Is this adding another component to possible feelings? Must study further._ She frowned, closing the program.as the alarm came over the intercom. It would have to wait. Mission time.

_________________________________________________

“What you see before you,” Allura said, gesturing at the screen on the main deck, “is a Galra prison ship. We’ve managed to determine that it may hold data containing the whereabouts of other ships and work camps.” She looked at Pidge. “I don’t know if your family’s locations are contained in them, or if they’re on the ship itself, but it may be a solid lead nonetheless.”

Pidge nodded. “Sounds like it’s worth a shot. Even if we don’t find them, we can at least try to liberate some more prisoners.”

“So we got another smash and grab on our hands, huh?” said Lance.

“People say that when they’re stealing jewels,” Keith noted. “Not freeing prisoners and getting data.”

“Oh my God, check out Mr. Literal over here.”

Allura shook her head, ignoring the latter part of the exchange. “I believe stealth may work to our advantage here. If we were to alert the ship to our presence too soon, they may try to delete the data before we can access it. There is a hangar entrance we can use. Pidge, would you be able to extract the data for us?”

“I’ll need to be near it, but they haven’t built a server I can’t crack,” boasted Pidge. “Who’s my backup?”

“That would be me,” answered Allura, causing heads to swivel in her direction.

“Princess, are you sure?” asked Coran, clearly trying not to sound frazzled. “The last time we tried this, it all went a bit nasty.”

“Those circumstances were unfortunate, but I believe they can be avoided this time around,” she said. This type of reaction was expected; she knew how he and the others worried. “I will need you and the paladins to serve as cover if we need a distraction or rescue. Besides,” she smiled now, “I’ve been itching to get back into the field.”

Pidge looked a little apprehensive at first, but she seemed to be mulling it over. “It’ll be easier for the two of us to cut and run if we get into trouble. Plus, you guys will be on standby.”

“Sounds like a plan. You let us know the second things go wrong, alright?” said Shiro.

Pidge gave a thumbs up. “Sure thing. Let’s go.”

_______________________________________

The castle moved out of the wormhole early to avoid detection, hiding in a nearby solar field close to the prison ship. Pidge flew out, going into stealth mode. Her new systems were working beautifully; she felt more in sync with Green than ever before. Allura sat in a seat behind her. While Green was smaller than some of the other lions, there was still a decent amount of room in the cockpit to move around in.

A good thing, too. Pidge was still working out these weird feelings, but she was pretty sure she’d die of embarrassment if Allura needed to wrap herself around her to fit (then again, she did have those shape-changing abilities). The princess had brought along an Altean dagger for self-defense, which she was currently examining

“We’re coming up on the ship,” Pidge said through her helmet. “Hangar entrance in range.”

“Got it. Standing by,” Shiro’s voice crackled in response.

Pidge took a deep breath before guiding Green into the hangar. It was empty at the moment, but she still tried to find a relatively unexposed place to park. She exhaled as she did so, gently landing Green in a corner.

She looked over her shoulder to Allura. “You ready?”

The princess nodded, sheathing the dagger for the moment. They exited Green, slipping out of the still-invisible lion. She pulled out a pad, and pressed on it, producing a holographic map of the ship. “The data rooms are here,” she observed, pointing at a blinking area, then handed the pad to Pidge. “I believe we should attempt to gain the data first, then free the prisoners.”

Pidge nodded. Strategically, it made sense. And they wouldn’t have to rely on stealth as much to free the prisoners. They both began moving through the hallways of the ship, following the map.

A soldier turned the corner at one point. Allura hissed, grabbing Pidge.

“Wh-” Pidge’s indignation was interrupted by being pulled close to Allura, right up against her body, into a cranny on the other side of the hall. The soldier walked by, not registering their presence. The heat of Allura’s body and the smell of her hair was nearly overwhelming in such a close proximity. It was almost…. _intoxicating_.

Finally, Allura let go, taking a deep breath. She quirked an eyebrow as she looked down at Pidge. “Are you alright? Your skin is changing its color. I’m led to understand that’s not a normal occurrence for your species.”

 _Craaaaaaaaap._ Pidge’s blush was spreading, but she willed it back into submission. _STUPID HORMONAL REACTIONS._ It seemed her hypothesis about dying of embarrassment had been correct in some ways. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

The room was just up ahead. Pidge quickly hacked the controls, only to find that, when the door opened, several guards were present, both robotic and organic. One looked over at her in surprise. “Hey, it’s the-!”

 _THWAM!_ Before he could get another word out, Pidge’s bayard extended and smacked him in the face, sending him to the ground. The other guards lifted their weapons and began firing.

Allura let out a war cry and rushed forward, dodging blasts. Pidge followed suit, and the battle became a whirlwind of blows. Pidge and Allura moved in sync, forming an almost balletic pair as they stabbed and electrocuted foes. The fight ended when Allura threw her dagger into the chest of a robot guard behind Pidge, leaving all the soldiers unconscious or destroyed.

“Thanks for the save,” said Pidge, moving further into the room and over to the computer, plugging in her laptop. “Good team, huh?”

“I’m inclined to agree with that,” said Allura. “You are a mighty warrior as always.”

Pidge grinned at the compliment.The data was encrypted, as usual, but her virus program took care of it in short order. She scanned the lists for any mention or pictures of Dad and Matt. Nothing so far, but she could take a closer look at the lists back in the castle.

It finished downloading, so Pidge unplugged the laptop and stored it again. “Got it. Time to go rescue some prisoners.”

“Oh, I doubt _very_ much that you’ll be doing that,” said a rough voice. Pidge and Allura both turned to see a small squad of guards aiming weapons at them, flanked by an older-looking Galra. His face had a weathered appearance, with a smirk that spoke to years of honed cunning, and his dress was more elegant than the typical military armor they tended to see. “Commander Yurak. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess, Ms. Holt. Or do you prefer Gunderson?”

At Pidge’s alarmed expression, he chuckled. “Oh, yes, I’ve got quite the file on all of the paladins. None of your secrets are safe from me. Such as your little visit here. Did you think the hangar would have been so easy to access otherwise? Come along quietly, if you please."

“And why would we do such a thing?” said Allura, dagger again at the ready. Pidge shifted back into a battle stance as well.

Yurak’s smirk became cold. “Because if you try and resist now, or contact your comrades for help, I’ll give an order to have every prisoner on this ship executed on the spot. I’m sure you wouldn’t want _that_ on your conscience.”

Pidge shared a look with Allura. They both nodded, sighed, and dropped their weapons, raising their hands.

“Excellent. Gentlemen, escort the ladies to the interrogation chamber.”

_______________________________________________

Allura grunted in pain as she and Pidge were put on metal racks, locks closing around their hands and feet. Yurak was examining Pidge’s bayard as well as Allura’s dagger.

“You know,” he drawled, “this dagger is an exquisite weapon. Fine craftsmanship. But the bayard…. _that_ is truly ingenious. A shame I cannot wield it to its full potential.” He shrugged, putting the weapons on a nearby table.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN KEEP US HERE?” Pidge was shouting. “WHEN I GET OUT OF THESE, I’M GONNA RIP YOUR ARMS OFF, THEN STICK ‘EM DOWN YOUR THROAT!” She struggled mightily against the locks, but to no avail.

“My, but you have spirit for one so small,” Yurak said, earning a growl from Pidge.

“Don’t worry,” said Allura to Pidge, “I’ll get you out of this, I swear it.”

“We’ll get out together,” replied Pidge. “We’re a good team, remember?”

Yurak raised an eyebrow, detaching a rod-like device from his belt. He began walking towards Allura.

She scoffed. “Are you going to torture me? What makes you believe I would yield _anything_ to the likes of you?”

“Oh, I’m no fool, Princess,” said Yurak. “With your strength and Altean biology, it would take me _days_ to break you through mere physical torture. I don’t have the luxury of that.” His expression grew stern. “Emperor Zarkon is a patient soul, but he is not _that_ patient.”

“However…” And without warning, he jammed the rod into Pidge’s chest. Electric sparks flew from the tip and cascaded across her body, causing her to scream.

“ _NO!_ ” Allura cried, terror constricting her heart.

Yurak had a savage smile on his face. “You seem to care for this little one, and _her_ body is _much_ more fragile. Tell me what you know.” He shocked her again, eliciting another scream from Pidge.

“Leave her alone!”

“DON’T TELL HIM ANYTHING, ALLURA!” Pidge shouted, voice ragged. “He thinks he’s so tough.” She spat at him. “Bring it, you koala-eared freak!”

“If you insist.” Another shock. Another scream.

Pidge was breathing heavier now. “Gonna…. kick your butt…..when I get out of here.”

“I have my doubts about that.” He shocked her again. It sounded like Pidge’s throat was going to tear itself apart.

“I can make this stop, Princess,” said Yurak, tone low and almost soothing. “Or we can keep going until she fries. _Tell me what you know._ ”

Allura looked over at Pidge, mind racing. She considered the options and sighed. “Very well. I’ll tell you everything. Just…..please. Don’t hurt her anymore.”

“No….” Pidge shook her head, expression pleading. “Allura, don’t…”

“Well, I’m glad we have someone reasonable around here.” Yurak paced the room, now closer to Allura, weapon down. “To begin with, what are the best methods to breach your castle’s defenses?”

“Well, you see….” she began, then **ripped** her hands out of the locks, throwing them at Yurak, whose eyes widened as they struck him in the face. He slumped to the ground. “You have to apply the right pressure.”

She smashed the locks on her legs, then picked up the weapons from the table and went to work on Pidge’s locks. She slumped into Allura’s arms.

“Ugghhhh….that _sucked_ ,” said Pidge.

“I know. Let’s get out of here.” She sheathed her dagger, gave Pidge the bayard, and lifted her into her arms in a princess carry position.

“Uh….” said Pidge, who seemed almost….embarrassed? Allura paid it no mind. Clearly she was still recovering.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you. Paladins, can you hear me?”

 _“Loud and clear, Princess,”_ said Shiro over the communicator.

“We need a rescue as soon as possible. The data is recovered, but we were briefly captured.”

_“Okay, so we need a full assault to get you and the prisoners out. Got it. Let’s roll, team!”_

Allura sped towards the hangar, Pidge still in her arms. The other lions soon arrived, pilots exiting them with weapons at the ready.

Lance winced as he saw Pidge. “You okay, buddy?”

Pidge gave a shaky thumbs up. “‘Mmm fine. Just got tortured a bit.”

“I shall be returning to the ship with Pidge,” Allura declared “I trust you and the others to rescue the prisoners and neutralize this ship.” She handed Shiro the map. “The cells are on Level 3.”

Shiro nodded as he took it. “Understood. Come on!” They began to move out.

Allura carried Pidge to Green, gently putting her in the cockpit seat. “Can you fly us back to the castle?”

Pidge looked woozy as she examined the controls. “I…..think so?” She placed her shaking hands on them.

Allura put her hands over Pidge’s. “I shall add my strength to yours.”

“....Okay. That should work _great_.” It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic, but they eased Green out of the hangar together, drifting back to the castle.

Surprisingly, they managed to get back without incident, landing Green carefully.

“Are we good?” asked Pidge, exiting the lion with Allura

“We’re back at the castle, yes,” Allura said.

“Okay. Awesome.” And without warning, Pidge slumped into unconsciousness.

Allura gave out a cry of surprise and held her up. “Coran! I need your assistance!”

Coran came running, stopping close to them as he saw the two. “What happened? She looks awful!”

“We were captured. She was tortured. Please prepare a healing pod.”

“Understood!”

_____________________________________

In the end, the rest of the team managed to secure the prisoners and transport them to the castle, then crippled the prison ship, stranding it in space.

“The guy in charge escaped,” Lance said, a troubled look on his face as he looked at Pidge floating in the healing pod. “He’s the one that did this to her, right?”

“Yes. He was a commander named Yurak. He’s one to watch out for,” said Allura. “She’ll be alright after a rest in here,” she added quickly. It was true, but she wished she didn’t sound so rattled.

Everyone else looked similarly downbeat, but there was a sense of relaxation in the group at the sound of Allura’s attempt to be reassuring.

“ _Damn it!”_ Well, in everyone except Keith, apparently. Running a hand through his hair, he stomped over to Allura. “What the hell happened, anyway? You were supposed to be her backup!”

“I was!” Allura said, deeply offended. “Yurak said he would kill all of the prisoners if we didn’t give ourselves up! What was I supposed to do in that situation?”

“Fight! We’re defenders of the universe, we don’t just give up at the first sign of trouble! Or did you forget that?”

“I did everything I could to protect the mission!”

“ _S_ _o because of that, Pidge could’ve died?!_ ” Keith shouted, slamming his fist into the empty pod next to Allura.

Allura opened her mouth for another retort, but the import of what Keith had said sunk in. Pidge had been hurt. Pidge could have died. _And it was all her fault._

“ _Enough,_ ” said Shiro, stepping in between them. “Keith, go cool off.”

“But-”

“ ** _NOW. That’s an order._** ” There was something dangerous in Shiro’s voice now; it would brook no arguments. Keith seemed about to object, but merely growled and began to storm off. His loud footsteps echoed in the distance, as well as more banging sounds, no doubt a result of the angry paladin taking out his anger on walls.

An awkward silence settled. Finally, Hunk sighed. “I’m, uh, I’m gonna see if I can get some of the data you guys got onto our systems.” He put his hands into his pockets and trudged out. An uncharacteristically silent Lance followed behind him after one last, worried look at Pidge in the pod. That left Shiro and Allura.

He took a deep breath. “For what it’s worth, I don’t blame you.”

“That’s a small comfort for failing another mission.”

Shiro shook his head. “You didn’t fail. Neither of you did. You got some important information and freed more Galra prisoners who can go back to their normal lives.”

Allura sighed. “I know we get hurt on these missions at times. But it….felt _different_ today. To see her tortured like that….” She shuddered.

Shiro placed a hand on her shoulder. “She’ll hurt. I know that from experience.” A dark look briefly flitted across his face. “But she’s tough. We’ll help her get through anything. And I’m sure she doesn’t blame you.”

“Thank you, Shiro.” She looked back at Pidge. “Could you go see if Coran needs some help setting coordinates for our next destination?”

He looked confused for a moment, but his face shifted to an understanding expression. “Of course. Take all the time you need.”

  
When he was gone, Allura laid a hand on the glass. Pidge looked so small and fragile. Allura’s other hand clenched into a fist. This would not happen again. She would make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yurak's name is a reference to Sendak's counterpart in the original series' dub. I tried to write him as a polite but nasty military man. J.K. Simmons was kind of a reference point in terms of attitude and speech patterns. I promise the next chapter will not be quite as long and more fluffy, less torture-y.


	5. Shared Moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge recovers and bonding occurs.

The next morning, Pidge woke up, blinking as she stumbled out of what felt like a healing pod. Big, strong arms seemed to wrap around her, bringing her possible fall to a stop.

“Easy now,” a calm voice said. She looked up, gaze sharpening back into focus. Shiro smiled down at her.

“Hey there. How are you feeling?”

“Like crap,” she answered. With some difficulty, she stood up on her own. The group was all there. Allura was standing in the middle of the room, Keith was leaning against a wall, and Lance, Coran, and Hunk couldn’t keep themselves from rushing up.

“Dude, we heard about what happened,” Lance said, looking relieved beyond words. He scowled. “If I ever see that Yurak jerk, I’m gonna be like  _ whapow _ !” He made a finger guns gesture.

Hunk, meanwhile, had wrapped himself around Pidge, sobbing, “OH THANK GOD YOU’RE OKAY WE WERE SO WORRIED.”

Coran joined in as well, crying loudly. “WHO WOULD HAVE HELPED ME DEBUG THE NAV SERVERS? NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN YOU.”

“Good to have you back,” Keith said, pacing over to the group at large. He hid it well, but Pidge could tell he’d been just as worried judging by the bags under his eyes.

Pidge looked over at Allura as she was squished between Hunk and Coran. Where there had previously been a tension in her shoulders and face, it seemed to finally relax. “I am...pleased to see you recovering,” the princess finally said.

Pidge disentangled herself from all the arms crushing her body and ambled up to Allura. “Yeah, I think I just needed a nice nap. Still a bit sore.” She cracked her neck. “What exactly happened anyway? I remember that guy and the shocks.” She shuddered, banishing the images from her mind. “But then it’s all kind of a blur.”

“Well,” Allura began, “you and I managed to get back to the castle. We put you in the pod, and the rest of the team managed to complete the mission.”

Pidge nodded. “Sounds about right. We got the data AND the prisoners out, right? Yurak said he was going to kill them if we called for help.”

“Not to worry,” Shiro said. “We didn’t let that happen. Yurak turned tail and ran.”

“HA!” Pidge’s smile was sharp, indicating a grim sense of satisfaction.

“Still,” Allura noted, “he’s one to watch out for. He said he had files on all of us.”

Pidge waved it off. “We can take him any day, right?” She turned back to the rest of the group. “You should have seen us, we were totally in sync!”

“Aw yeah, my badass bro!” Lance said, walking over and bringing up his hand for a high-five. Pidge hesitated for a second, but eventually gave in.

“Good to hear,” Shiro said.

“I….true, but that’s no reason not to be cautious,” Allura said, frowning slightly.

“She’s right,” Coran said. “We’ll need to have more backup for missions like this in the future, eh?”

Pidge groaned. “Being a little overprotective, aren’t you?” But she could see the sense in it. “Alright, fine. I don’t wanna worry you,  _ old man _ .” The grin was back in place.

“I appreciate it,” Coran said, chuckling. Allura’s face relaxed again.

“Oh hey,” Pidge said, turning back to her, “mind if I show you and the others something? I was messing around with the holodeck before the mission.”

“Certainly,” Allura said, amid shouts of “wait what” and “dude WHAT”

Pidge looked down at the tight, form-fitting healing pod outfit.  _ Oh God, Coran and Allura didn’t see me naked, did they?  _ “Uh, let me get out of this first,” she said, fighting back embarrassment.

___________________________________

Some time later, Allura joined the others sans Coran (he was down with the prisoners, making them feel welcome) in the….Pidge was calling it a “holodeck” now. Whatever reference it seemed to be still escaped Allura (the paladins frequently made jokes centering around Earth’s popular culture), but she supposed it was a good colloquial term for it.

Pidge was tapping on buttons on the wall. “Okay, so I added a bunch of stuff to this lately, lemme know what you guys think.” She smiled. “I’m also taking requests.”

The hologram generator seemed to kick in as she said this, cycling through a number of different backgrounds: a spaceship of some kind (though it was not a type familiar to Allura), a forest, a cave, and others.

“Dude, this is so COOL!” Lance exclaimed. “How’d you find this place?”

“Well, Allura and I were hanging out in here,” Pidge said. “She had this really cool thing that’s like space volleyball.”

“Pidge said you played such a game on something called the beach?” Allura asked.

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, like the ones back home.” He sighed, sounding wistful.

“That could be a good training exercise,” Shiro mused, looking at the current environment, a medieval castle.

“Aw c’mon, man, do ya have to see EVERYTHING as training?” Lance said, looking over Pidge’s shoulder at the controls.

“No,” admitted Shiro, smiling. “But it’s fun to make you  _ think _ I do.”

Keith, meanwhile, was staring intently at the castle. “Could you….make a fantasy program?” he finally asked, sounding almost embarrassed.   
Pidge looked up at him. “Why, Keith,” she drawled, “could it be that you actually want to have fun?”

Keith grumbled a bit. “It would...help me with my sword skills.”

“What? That’s a total lie, man, you wanna fight dragons,” Hunk said.

“I confess,” Allura observed, “I would be interested in such a program as well. I have heard Lance tell tales of Earth creatures such as these dragons. It could be enlightening and….fun, as you say.”

“I’ll add it to the list,” Pidge noted.

______________________________________________________________

The group eventually began to shuffle out one by one save Pidge and Allura. 

Pidge adjusted her glasses as she looked up at Allura. “Hey, so, uh….” She cleared her throat. “I actually made something for….you.”

Allura raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Pidge typed away on the wall as she spoke. “I did some digging into your dad’s AI that we had to shut down. I managed to find a few uncorrupted files. Been working on restoring them.” A final keyboard tap summoned a field of flowers.

She heard Allura’s breath catch in her throat. “Pidge….this is….”

Pidge waved it off. “I know, I know, it’s not much, but I’m still looking into cleaning up some of the other files.” She hesitated. “I know you miss him. And I know how that feels. Even if Matt and my dad aren’t…..dead.” 

She winced slightly.  _ Maybe don’t be so blunt, hmm? _   “So, if you wanted, I could…..try and get him ba-”

Her speech was interrupted by a tight, warm embrace.  _ Wha?  _ Awkwardly, Pidge reached around to try and pat Allura on the back. “Uh….there, there?”

“PIdge, no words can express how much I appreciate your hard work. Thank you so much for this.” She broke the embrace, wiping her tears. “But my father is gone. Part of me will always miss him and the rest of my people, but I must keep moving forward with the family I have  _ now _ . And that includes you.”

“O-okay. I just figured I should make the offer.” Pidge looked around the field. “This was in your room, right? It’s pretty.”

“Indeed. The juniberry fields were one of my favorite places to visit as a child.” Allura pulled up her skirt slightly and sat down. “Would you like to join me?”

Pidge hesitated, but eventually nodded and sat down next to her.

“So, you know something about my father. What about yours? I know that your main reason for coming along with us was to find him and your brother.”

“Well, it  _ was _ that. And I still want to find them. But I know what we’re doing is important,” Pidge noted. “My dad’s great. He’s smart and a good leader, but he’s not, like, a harsh guy? He’ll tell you when you’re doing something wrong, but not be all jerky about it.” She grinned. “Matt drives me crazy sometimes, but he’s always had my back.”

Allura nodded, listening. “I never had any siblings, sadly.”

“I guess having some of us around is like that?” Pidge ventured. “To me, it feels like I traded one big brother for four more.”

Allura chuckled. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. Though you were at this Garrison with Hunk and Lance, correct?”

“Yeah. I didn’t meet Keith until we rescued Shiro, though.” Pidge shook her head. “Man, I don’t know WHAT he’s got going on, but there’s definitely some skeletons in his closet.”

“I…..pardon? Why would Keith have corpses in his closet?”

Pidge laughed. “It’s an Earth expression. It means that he’s got a lot of secrets. Lance says he washed out of our class. After we rescued Shiro, he took us to this shack he had in the middle of nowhere. Why’s it there? How’d he get it? How long was he living there?”

Allura had a thoughtful expression on her face now. “Yes, I suppose that’s rather curious, isn’t it? And he doesn’t seem like the type to tell us those sorts of secrets.”

“He’ll come around eventually. I think he’s as big a dork as the rest of us, he just doesn’t like to show it.” At another confused look from Allura, she clarified, “Another Earth thing. It means you’re silly.”

“Ah. I believe that description applies to Lance more than anyone else on this ship.” Allura rolled her eyes. “He has a good heart, I know, but his flirting can be rather….irritating.”

“You should have seen him at the Garrison,” Pidge said. “It was  _ painful _ to watch. I actually started to feel bad for him after a while. Though Hunk was usually able to rein him in before it got out of hand.”

“Yes, he is quite sensible in that way. Our encounter with Rolo and Nyma would have gone much worse had he not warned us to be cautious.”

“He’s great with tech, too. Did you know he helped us find the Blue Lion? He made an emissions detector for an element that  _ wasn’t even on Earth! _ ”

Allura smiled at Pidge’s growing excitement. “Impressive. Most impressive. Did you know Shiro before all this as well?”

Pidge nodded. “He used to come over to our house for dinner before the Kerberos mission.” She frowned. “I worry about him. He likes to pretend everything is okay, but you don’t come away ‘okay’ from a year of being experimented on by evil aliens.” She shuddered. “I’m still not great, and I only got tortured for like a couple minutes.”

Allura’s gaze softened. “I worry about him too. And you.”

“I’ll be okay in the long run. As long as it doesn’t happen again.”

Now the princess’ gaze hardened. She put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “I promise you, it never will. I couldn’t live with myself if we lost you.”

Pidge blinked, surprised by the sudden show of emotion. “Uh….thanks.” She got up, reflexively dusting off her legs despite knowing the flowers were only holograms. “I guess we should go look at some of the data we gathered, huh?”

Allura stood as well. “Indeed. Lead the way, my green paladin.”

The warm feeling returned. “Sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about this one, but I'd been planning the conversation about Alfor's AI for a while. And I like how it turned out ultimately. Hope folks enjoy!


	6. You Can Be My Wingman Any Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds out about Pidge's crush. Things go in interesting directions as a result.

_ Another day, another mission _ , thought Pidge. This time, it’d been a hard-won fight against another of Haggar’s twisted biomechanical creations. Lance had coined the term “Robeast” for them, which was both colloquial AND accurate. The group walked back onto the main deck, all looking the worse for wear. Even Shiro seemed exhausted.

Allura and Coran were standing on the deck. The princess was still in battle armor, and Pidge couldn’t help but notice that, once again, there was a great tension in her bearing that relaxed. Funnily enough, it seemed to happen when Allura looked at her specifically.  _ Well, she did see me *tortured* right in front of her _ . It made sense that she would still be rattled by that.

  
“Welcome back, paladins!” Coran boomed. “Showed that Robeast the old one-two, didn’t ya?”

Shiro smiled, weary. “Sure did. We don’t have anything...pressing at the moment, do we?”

“No,” Allura said. “I believe you all deserve a good long rest. We shall leave tomorrow morning.”

Shiro nodded, giving a thumbs up. “Fantastic. I’m going to go pass out.”

Keith followed him, silent save for his footsteps.

“Lightweights. I don’t feel tired at all!” Lance claimed. “We were pretty cool out there, huh, Princess? Especially that last kick I did.”

“Hmmm, yes, certainly,” Allura said, unconvincingly, though Lance didn’t seem to pick up on it, as he was still preening.

“Pidge got the finishing blow, though,” Hunk pointed out. “That was pretty cool too.”

“Yes, firing your laser right into its mouth was a rather impressive exploitation of the beastie’s weakness,” Coran said.

Pidge removed her helmet, putting her glasses back on. “I guess I got a certain amount of….satisfaction out of it.” A sudden blast of pain shot through the left side of her face as the metal frames made contact with it. “Ah!”

Allura frowned, giving out a quiet gasp as she got closer. “Pidge, you’re hurt.”

Pidge ran her fingers along her cheek. It felt like there was a long cut on it. Her mind flashed back to the fight. At one point, Voltron had been thrown against a cliffside. Her helmet must have dug into the side of her head as a result of the impact.

“It’s just a scratch,” she said. “No big deal.”

Allura still looked worried. “Still, you should clean and dress that.”

“OK, I’ll take care of it.” Pidge was unable to avoid sounding annoyed. She knew Allura was just trying to look out for her (and Pidge, selfishly, appreciated the extra attention), but it was still….slightly irritating. “Sorry,” she added, more sincerely. “I really will, I promise.”

Allura sighed. “Thank you. I’m just….glad you’re safe.” She reached out and ruffled Pidge’s hair.

  
Pidge froze, her face contorting into a shocked expression.  _ What the-? Alright, just don’t freak out, don’t freak out, don’tfreakoutdon’tfreakout. _ She tried to relax, but, judging by the raised eyebrows of Lance and Hunk, she evidently wasn’t succeeding. Even Coran seemed a bit confused. “Uh….”

Allura, who seemed to have drifted in a pleased-looking trance, eventually blinked and took her hand away, looking flustered. “I….take care of it soon, please. I believe Coran and I need to speak with the royal family we just saved.” She turned around, signifying that the paladins were dismissed.

Lance whirled to face Pidge as the trio left the deck, eyes suspicious and curious. “OK, what in the blue heck was THAT about?”

“What was  _ what _ about?” She was guarded and on the defensive.

“You acting all….weird!”

“I just...wasn’t expecting her to do that,” she fibbed, though only partially so. It  _ had _ been unexpected to a certain degree. He just didn’t need to know  _ why _ she was so thrown off by it.

Lance’s eyes only narrowed. Then he looked at Hunk, who didn’t have the same look of shock as him. On the contrary, he seemed wary when he met Lance’s eyes.

“What?”

“Do you know something I don’t? About…” Lance made a bizarre, wavy hand motion. “...whatever that was?”

“Uh, nope, nothing, not at all, I am completely as lost as you,” said Hunk, supremely unconvincing.

Now Pidge narrowed her eyes as well. “Hunk….” she began, a warning tone entering her voice.

She had a bad feeling about what was about to come out of his mouth, but hopefully his self-preservation would kick in.

Hunk clamped said mouth shut and began looking very nervous.

“Hunk….” Lance added, a falsely sweet tone in  _ his _ voice. “Tell me, big guy…”

Hunk began to sweat and shake as he tried to keep from speaking.

“I’ll try your new recipes!”   


“Hunk, I swear to God, no one will find your body!” She thought for a moment. “Or yours, Lance!”

“I’ll let you borrow my slippers!”

“I’ll let you _ live _ !”

“I’ll tell Shay about that time in the Garrison dorms when-”

“PIDGE HAS A BIG CRUSH ON ALLURA!” As soon as the words were out of Hunk’s mouth, he clapped his hands over it in horror.

“Hunk!” Pidge hissed. “Thanks a lot!”

“I’m sorry! It’s too shameful.”

Pidge rubbed her temples in annoyance as Hunk looked down at his feet.

Lance, meanwhile, seemed to have….shut down. He was staring straight ahead, sheer disbelief on his face. Finally: “No. Nononono, no WAY. You. Like.  _ Allura? _ I thought you were more into computers than people!”

“Don’t be weird, Lance,” she fired back. She looked at Hunk. “How’d you figure it out? I didn’t put  _ that  _ in my diary.”

“I mean,” Hunk said, “it’s not exactly hard to notice when you light up like a Galra blaster any time she comes into the room.” A glare. “Sorry.” He frowned for a moment. “And I don’t look at your diary anymore anyway!”

  
“Wait, hold up,” Lance said. “Is THAT why you’ve been hanging out with her lately? I thought it was just girl stuff!”

“What do you define as girl stuff?” Pidge asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Y’know, sleepovers, painting toenails, that kind of junk!”

“I don’t think she knows about those ‘strange Earth customs’ yet,” she said, briefly lapsing into an imitation of Allura’s high-class accent, then sighed. “Anyway, it’s not like I have THAT much of a chance. I just...want to be around her. It doesn’t matter if she feels the same way about me.” Her face was downcast.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” said Hunk. “I’m sure she likes spending time with you.”

“I mean….” But she trailed off, not knowing how to word things. Lance, meanwhile, had gone quiet, brow furrowed.

“What’s up with you?” asked Hunk, but he didn’t get a reply. Pidge was curious too, looking at him expectantly.

Finally, the lanky boy sighed and moved closer. “Guess I don’t have a choice…. “ His face contorted into a “suave” expression that was even more overblown than his usual attempts. “I’m your new official wingman!”

A beat. Silence. Then: “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?” from both Pidge and Hunk.

“I mean it!” Against all odds, Lance seemed totally sincere. Pidge briefly wondered if she was hallucinating. “You need my help to win her over!”

“I don’t want to ‘win’ her,” she said, a harshness in her voice coming through. “She’s not a prize.”

Lance, to his credit, looked contrite. “Right. Sorry. But you don’t have a lot of experience with that kinda stuff, right?”

“No,” she admitted.

“So I’ll teach you some of my moves!” He struck another typically Lance pose.

“How do I know this isn’t some trick to get in good with her?” Pidge asked.

Lance looked offended to his very core. “What? No way! That’s like a violation of every bro code ever! And we’re totally bros!” 

His face grew softer. “I just...want you to be happy. And if she makes you happy, then what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help in any way I could?”

Well.  _ That _ was unexpectedly touching. She sighed. “Alright, you can... show me your moves.”

“Yeah!” the older boy cheered.

“I just want it on the record that I think this is a terrible idea and I will be monitoring it every step of the way,” declared Hunk.

“I wouldn’t expect any less of you,” she said, smiling a little now. She yawned. “I’m gonna go take care of this,” she gestured to the cut on her cheek, “and take a nap. We can do moves-showing after that.”

_________________________________________

Allura and Coran returned to the castle after the meeting with the Galagian royal family. It had gone well; they were grateful for the rescue and had said they would consider joining the burgeoning alliance against Zarkon.

Coran had asked her to go rest as well, saying that he would take care of maintenance and recharging. As she headed towards her room, Allura was thinking about her reaction to Pidge’s injury.

It had been minor, of course, but she had perhaps overreacted; she felt bad about making the younger girl so visibly uncomfortable. In the past, Allura had, while not exactly being unfamiliar with the paladins, kept her distance to a certain degree. It wasn’t proper for royalty to fraternize too openly with them. But this new living situation was different. The humans didn’t care much for things like propriety, so she’d had a chance to grow closer to them all. While Lance’s attentions were generally unwanted, she enjoyed getting hugs from Hunk or encouraging shoulder pats from Shiro. But more and more, she seemed to harbor a special place in her heart for the smallest paladin.

Ruminating on these thoughts, she heard noises coming from the training room. Curious, she poked her head in through the door.

“Keith!” she said, shocked at the sight of him battling the guardian.

The sound of her voice caused him to look over in surprise, which gave the robot an opening.

“End program!” she said, voicing ringing out loud and clear. The robot deactivated and slumped into a neutral position.

Allura marched over to Keith, hands on her hips, frowning. “What are you doing? You should be resting, not training.”

“Funny to hear that from you,” Keith said, though there was no malice in it.

“Regardless, I specifically told everyone to rest for the moment. And that includes you. We cannot have pilots who are burned out from exhaustion.” She was tough on them sometimes because she had to be, but she was not unreasonable.

Keith sighed. “Fine, I’ll go take a nap.” His bayard returned to its standard shape as he began striding out the door.

A thought occurred to Allura. Keith, as Pidge had noted, was good at keeping secrets. She hadn’t told anyone about these growing feelings, and she wanted to have enough time to figure them out without….interference. “Keith?”

He looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“How….close are you to Pidge?”

 

Keith mulled it over for a moment as he turned around more fully, then shrugged. “I mean, I like her. She’s a good teammate.” His gaze grew suspicious. “Why?”

“We’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, and I wanted to know if you knew anything that would help me understand her a little better.”

Something subtle sparked in his eyes, but it disappeared just as quickly. “I haven’t known her that long. Maybe you should just...try and do normal stuff? Act interested in what she’s into even if you’re not?” 

It sounded sensible enough, Allura supposed, though she managed to overlook a certain impatience and confusion in his eyes. “Ah, I see. Thank you for your advice. I believe that will be most helpful. Could you...not tell her we had this conversation?”

Now he looked even more confused. “Uh….sure. No problem.”

She put a hand on his shoulder, then spun him around and shoved him out the door, causing him to sputter in shock. “Excellent. Now go sleep!”

___________________________________________________________________

“So, what exactly are we doing?” asked Pidge. After they’d all napped for a few hours, and Pidge had cleaned and bandaged the cut, the trio was meeting in her room. Hunk was sitting on her bed.

“You’ve got that stereo system in here, right? With the tunes I gave you?” Lance asked.

Pidge nodded, not sure where he was going with this. “It’s in the wall.” She gestured to a small hunk of plastic embedded in said wall. The two of them had both managed to bring music on the interstellar trip; she’d let Lance borrow her headphones on occasion, and the sound system had been fairly easy to rig.

“Yeah, I gotta admit, man, I’m as lost as her,” Hunk said, twiddling his thumbs.

Lance waved them off as he looked for a selection. “Pidge, I am going to teach  _ you _ how to  _ dance _ .”

Pidge felt a pit in her stomach open. “Oh,  _ please  _ no.”

“I’m with her on that one,” Hunk said. “Bad idea, full stop.”

  
Lance scoffed. “Look, just ‘cause I have my own  _ awesome style that you totally don’t appreciate _ doesn’t mean I can’t teach some good fundamentals.”

Hmmm. Lance really  _ did _ seem eager to be a good friend with all this. Maybe there was some solid advice under all that bluster.

“At least it’ll be entertaining,” Hunk mused.

Lance finally seemed to find a song he liked and pushed “play”. Synth drumbeats and guitar licks began pouring out of the speakers.

Pidge groaned. “Is this that classical crap you like?”   


“Hey, the 1980s and 90s were the  _ peak _ of human musical achievements!” Lance declared, tapping his foot to the beat. “Look, just c’mere.”

Pidge trudged over to him, listening to the beats extend.

“Do these basic steps,” he instructed, going back and forth on his legs in a few simple movements.

She followed as the song’s actual lyrics began, tuning them out and focusing purely on the music. Though Lance was mouthing along with them:  _ Been workin’/So hard/I punch in/My card/Eight hours/For what?/Oh tell me what I got _

Step one-two-three, step one-two-three...

“You’re a little stiff, but we can work on that,” Lance said, looking down at her. He strode over and wrapped her hands in his, causing a squawk of indignation. He rolled his eyes. “Just trust me, alright?”

Pidge was disarmed by the sincerity in his voice, gripping his hands more tightly as they went through steps together. As the song went on, she grew more comfortable, moving fluidly to each beat.

_ Now I gotta cut loose/Footloose/Kick up your Sunday shoes _

“You’re getting it!” Lance exclaimed. Hunk was smiling and bouncing to the beat now as well.

Pidge gave one of her patented toothy smiles and twirled out of Lance’s hands, improvising steps and waving her arms wildly. She couldn’t deny it; this was  _ fun _ .  _ Now I really  _ **_do_ ** _ wanna dance with her…. _

_ Everybody cut, everybody cut/Everybody cut, everybody cut/Everybody cut Footloose! _

As the song came to a close, Pidge stopped in place, breathing heavily and sweating, but still with that 100-megawatt grin. Lance and Hunk both whooped and started clapping as she took a bow. An additional clapping sound, this one of flesh against metal, came from the doorway.

The trio turned to see Shiro, a smile on his face. “Is this a private party or can anyone join?”

“Shiro! We were just…” Pidge tried to think of an excuse, but failed. “Lance was teaching me how to dance.”

“Oh?”

“Pidge is crushing hard on Allura,” Lance said. “I’m trying to help her out with that.”

Shiro nodded, seeming to mull it over. “Good idea. Dancing’s always fun to do with a partner you like.”

“Wait, you knew about this too?” Hunk asked.

“Pidge told Keith and I a couple weeks ago.”

  
Pidge snorted. “Don’t lie, you dragged it out of me just like these jokers.”

“Okay, that’s true,” Shiro admitted, sounding a little sheepish. “Good luck. I’m always open for advice if you need it.” He looked over at Lance. “Though you might want to be careful about people seeing this. Allura might think you’re trying to keep Pidge all to yourself.” His voice had taken on a teasing tone.

Lance scrunched up his face like he’d smelled something that had died. “Dude, gross! She’s like my  _ sister _ , I’d never think of Pidge like that!”

“Gee, Lance, you sure know how to make a girl feel appreciated,” Pidge said, tone dryer than salt. She supposed she was touched by how much she meant to Lance at this point, even if he’d expressed it in a typically Lance fashion.

“Aw c’mon, he didn’t mean it like that,” Hunk said.

Lance waved all of this off. “Let’s keep going. You wanna go slower now?”

“I think that might be good, yeah.”

  
As Lance picked another song, Pidge reflected on how lucky she was to have friends... _ brothers _ , really, that were so willing to drop everything and help her with this. There was a chance it could all go horribly wrong, of course, but part of the fun of experiments was unexpected variables...now to see how they affected things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title gleefully stolen from Top Gun, of course. I almost had a Guardians of the Galaxy-esque line with Lance telling Pidge to "be like Bacon", but cut that because it was a little *too* blatant. Lance being an aficionado for 80s and 90s pop is my own headcanon, because you cannot tell me that this child would not be intimately familiar with the discographies of Kenny Loggins and the Backstreet Boys. And for one last reference, the "Galagians" are of course named after the video game Galaga.


	7. Wingman Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance offers more tips and tricks, while Hunk is a tempering influence.

  1. Travails of Pick-Up Lines



The next morning, as the group was getting ready to leave the Galagians, Pidge managed to talk to a few of the prisoners that were rescued prior to the Robeast fight. The paladins were returning the various prisoners to their home planets before setting out on the general mission again. It seemed that a few had recalled people matching her father’s and brother’s descriptions at some point. Many of the prisoners had been shuffled around between camps and ships by the Galra as a way of maximizing their resources’ potential, especially since Voltron was now a persistent thorn in their side. Unfortunately, nobody had seen Dad and Matt since their last transfer.

It seemed like when she took any step toward finding them, she fell two steps back. She sighed, heading back to her room, thoughts turning to happier subjects. Lance had been continuing to give her “lessons” on how to impress/be more comfortable with Allura. While there was occasionally a nugget of good advice in them (dancing was a good skill to have, for instance), she generally found that Hunk’s rephrased advice was more useful and less likely to earn her an Altean-level arm twist from a ticked-off princess.

Exhibit A: Lance: “You gotta bring on the compliments. Always tell her how hot she looks.”

Hunk: “Compliments are good, but don’t focus ‘em just on the physical side. What do you like about her personality?” “Ugh, Hunk, stop messing up my groove here!” “What? I just don’t want Pidge to get slapped into a wall because of your bad advice.” “MY ADVICE IS THE BEST.”

Speaking of the paladins in question, they seemed to be waiting outside her room.

“Can I help you?” Pidge asked, tapping her foot.

“Dude, it’s time for another lesson,” Lance said as the trio entered the room.

Pidge sighed. “Alright, what advice do I get today?”

“Yeah, this is getting more entertaining every time we do it,” Hunk said.

Lance rolled his eyes before clearing his throat. “Today, you will learn the ancient art of…. pick-up lines.”

Pidge and Hunk both issued groans. “Seriously?” Pidge said. “If they don’t work for YOU, what makes you think _I’d_ have a better success rate?”

“What? They’ve TOTALLY worked before! Multiple times! Ask Hunk!”

Pidge looked over at Hunk, who seemed to be considering the question with a furrowed brow. “Wait, are you counting the times we were hanging out with Kimberly and Lacey?”

“Duh!”

“...You know they just wanted to get my thoughts on the homework, right?”

Lance’s face fell so low that Pidge couldn’t help full-on laughing. “Your entire worldview just got crushed, didn’t it?” she said, gasping for breath.

“Sh-shut up!” Lance barked, blushing. “Maybe you’ll have more luck!”

“Well, she IS a lot cuter than you,” Hunk mused.

Pidge’s ears grew hot at being called cute. “Look, if I try one, will you shut up about it?”

“Yes,” Lance said instantly.

“ _Fine._ Lay one on me.”

“Okay, try this.” Lance cleared his throat before striking a finger guns pose. “Hey, babe, are you from outer space? ‘Cause you’re….. _out of this world._ ”

More groaning. “What? That’s like THE worst one possible,” Hunk said.

“Aw c’mon! It’s a whole _theme_ thing. We’re in space? And she’s an alien?”

“I suppose that’s the LEAST offensive option I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth,” Pidge noted. “Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”

Lance slapped her on the back. “Go, my pupil.”

Pidge exited her room, and as luck had it, Allura was making her way down the hallway.

“Oh! Hello, Pidge. I was just about to start the launch sequence. Would you like to accompany me?”

“Sure.” Pidge walked alongside Allura, hands behind her head and striding to keep pace.

“Did you manage to find any information about your family from the prisoners?” Allura asked.

Pidge shrugged, now letting her arms hang at her sides. “The usual. Some of them knew Dad and Matt, but they haven’t seen them for a while because of all the moving around.”

“I see. I’m sorry we do not have more of a lead.” She stopped, looked down at Pidge with a determined expression, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We shall find them.”

Pidge smiled at the contact. “Thanks.”

Okay, it was now or never. Time to see if this _stupid_ pick-up line would yield any useful data. “Hey, Allura, are you from outer space?”

Allura now had the most outright confused expression Pidge had ever seen on the alien princess. “.....Yessss?”

Pidge made the same finger guns pose and grin as Lance, though it felt more like a grimace. “Because you’re _out of this world!”_

Silence.

Silence.

Further confusion on Allura’s face.

More silence.

Pidge was frozen in place, still grimacing and pointing fingers.

Finally, agonizingly, something in Allura’s eyes sparked and her mouth formed an “o” shape before she spoke. “Outer space….out of this world….” she murmured. “I understand! A play on words!” She laughed a high, pleasant, almost musical laugh for several seconds. “A very clever joke!”

 _"Yes. Haha! A joke. That’s what it was,_ ” Pidge said, not at all trying to hide her awkwardness. Finally, she relaxed her body and coughed nervously. “Uh, guess we should try and make that launch, huh?”

“Very well, then.”

 _Later_ : “Lance?” “Yeah, buddy?” “No more pick-up lines.”

 _Also Later_ : “Keith, Pidge told me the funniest joke today. She said ‘are you from outer space? Because you’re out of this world!’.” “....Heh. That’s actually pretty clever.”

  1. Physicality



“The next thing,” Lance announced during another lesson, this one post-training, “is how to…. _get close_.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Pidge sighed. “Okay, what’s an example of that that’s LEAST likely to get me punched? Or arm-twisted? Or make her do that little thing with her lip that she does when she gets irritated?” A smile snuck its way onto her face as she said the last part.

“Dude, you’re crushing on her *so* bad,” Hunk teased. Pidge chucked a pillow at his face, but she was still smiling.

“Maybe a little.”

Lance clapped his hands together for their attention, looking annoyed. “Focus! The _best_ , most non-punchable way to do it is like this.” He moved over to the bed next to Pidge. Then he yawned, stretched his arms high, and moved the left one towards her shoulder.

“Oh, _God,_ really man? That’s _literally_ the oldest trick in the book.” Pidge shoved his arm away.

“But it works!” Lance insisted.

“Again, _when has it ever worked for *you*?!_ ” She gestured at Hunk. “ _He_ doesn’t have to do half this crap! From what I heard, Shay fell in love with him in like five seconds!”

Hunk spluttered, “I, she does NOT,” but eventually his indignation was replaced with a look of concentration. “Y’know,” he said, “if you want to get closer physically, but not like make out with her yet-”

“ _HUUUUNK_!” Pidge shrieked, face hot. “I’m not even CLOSE to being ready for something like that!”

“Right, sorry. But she’s been looking really tense and stiff lately. Maybe she could use a shoulder rub? People ask me to do those like all the time. And it’s not creepy.”

The blush lessened as Pidge considered it. “Mom showed me how to do those,” she mused. “Definitely something to think about.”

“You know I’m still here, right?” Lance asked.

“Yes, but we’re ignoring you. Hunk, any tips from the master on those?”

“Well…..”

_______________________________________________________

Allura hummed to herself as she headed towards the “holodeck”. The group was currently en-route back to the Balmerans since their prisoner transport task was complete. Shay had contacted them after that day’s training for assistance in setting up better defenses should the Galra ever return, as well as the possibility of fixing them up with some transport. The burgeoning galaxy alliance would need such things, after all. But for now, Allura was going to “hang out” with Pidge. She’d been doing so more often lately, after all, and it had felt like an opportune moment.

She rolled her neck and tried to stretch out her arms; they had felt very stiff lately thanks to a relatively level stream of stress and tension. This relaxation might do them some good as well.

As she entered the holodeck, Pidge was back in her civilian clothes, tapping on the wall controls. Her face lit up as Allura entered. “Hey!”

Allura chuckled at the exuberance. “Good afternoon. You said you had something to show me?”

  
Pidge nodded, pressing a button. The room’s image became a forest. Green trees reached into the sky, and the water was clear enough for Allura to see her reflection in.

Allura made a noise of quiet awe. “It’s lovely,” she said. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a forest like this.”

“It’s based on ones I went camping in with my folks on Earth,” Pidge said, tapping the side of her head. “I’ve got a pretty good memory.”

“Modest as always, I see,” Allura teased, then sat down on a small patch of grass. She winced slightly, still feeling the aches in her upper body.

“You okay?” Pidge asked.

“Yes, just a little stiff, I suppose.” She rotated her shoulder. “It’s been rather tense around here lately.”

“Well, if you’re okay with it,” Pidge began, “my mom showed me how to do shoulder rubs. Hunk gave me some tips too.”

“Oh? Whatever for?”

Pidge looked away for a moment for some reason. How odd. “Uh, nothing special, he noticed you were looking stiff and had some ideas.”

“He does seem like he would be good at that. Very well, then. I would appreciate that a great deal.” She turned, presenting her back to Pidge.

  
Allura heard her hesitate behind her, then some shuffling, and finally the sensation of smaller hands on her shoulders. “Tell me more about your mother. What is she like?”

“Well, she’s pretty smart,” Pidge said. Allura closed her eyes as she felt the younger girl’s hands rub and knead her skin. “She and Dad taught me everything I know about programming.”

“I see. So we have her to thank for many of your invaluable skills.” Goodness, but this felt _good_. It was so relaxing, and Pidge clearly knew what she was doing.

“Guess so.” There was love for her mother in Pidge’s voice, but also sadness. “I wish there was a way to tell her I’m alright. She must be out of her mind worrying.”

“Once we find your father and brother, perhaps we can find a way to send her a message,” Allura said, voice gentle. “A little higher on the right, if you please?”

“No problem. So what was your mom like?” A pause. “Uh, sorry if that’s _too_ personal.”

“It’s quite alright,” Allura said. She sighed. “Mother was very kind, but she had an iron will. She was never willing to put up with my nonsense, which I suppose I hated at the time.” A soft, sad laugh. “She died just before the war broke out. I suspect my father may have wanted to grieve rather than fight on.”

“I’m sorry,” Pidge said, voice quiet. “For everything you’ve had to go through. It’s not fair.”

“No,” Allura agreed, “no, it isn’t. But I must fight. If not for myself, then for all who suffer under Zarkon’s rule. And I have you, Coran, and the others now to help share that burden.”

“Yeah. We’ll do it together.” Allura felt the sensation of Pidge’s hands leave her back. “Alright, I think I’m done. How you feeling?”

“Refreshed. I really needed that. Thank you, Pidge.” Allura turned back around. “Now, you’ve been tense lately as well, I’ve noticed. Would you like a shoulder rub as well?”

“Sure!” Pidge’s voice raised an octave. “Uh, I mean, sure.”

“Wonderful.” Allura now moved behind Pidge. “I know my strength can sometimes exceed yours, so please don’t hesitate to say something if I hurt you.”

“You could never hurt me,” Pidge said, instantly, looking up at Allura with an uncommonly serious expression. Then she blanched slightly and turned back around.

Allura went slightly pink. “I...appreciate the vote of confidence.” And so she went to work.

 _Later:_ “Yo, Pidge, what’s with that dopey-lookin’ smile?” “That’s for me to know and you to never find out, Lance.” “Booooo!”

  
_Also Later_ : “Keith, do you have a moment? I wanted to speak to you about Pidge again.” “....actually, can I go train some more? Please?” “I’m sorry you find this less interesting than combat, but I feel more comfortable telling you these things. Pidge said that you are good at keeping secrets.” “ _Did_ she now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know Lance is going to try that line out canonically one of these days. Not many in-jokes here outside of "Kimberly and Lacey", named of course after the voice actors for Allura and Nyma, the unsinkable Kimberly Brooks and Lacey Chabert.
> 
> Next time: Lance's wingman-ness continues with a surprising beginning.


	8. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things come to a head after another incident. How will things end, or begin, for these two?

“Damn it!” Pidge swore. She shifted Green, dodging several laser blasts. It seemed that Shay’s concern about the Galra returning had not been misplaced. During construction of the new defense systems and transports, a battle cruiser had appeared over the planet, coming down into the atmosphere and sending out fighters. Since the defenses were far from ready, it fell on the Voltron paladins to venture out to fight. Unfortunately, they couldn’t scramble the castle at the moment to help; Allura, Coran, and Shay were helping Balmerans get inside for safety. It was only a matter of time before the Galra lost patience and bombarded it, so they needed to get the particle barrier.

“Having trouble?” Hunk asked through the comms, dodging blasts of his own.

“They’ve upgraded their fighters,” Pidge said. “WAY faster now.” She grunted, dodging another one. “Could use some backup!”

“Got it.” Yellow soon came ramming through the path of fighters that had Pidge in their sights.

“Thanks!” she said, then tore into another group with her laser.

Keith and Lance were lighting up and cooling down fighters on their own. “Pidge’s right about the speed,” Keith said, in between blasts. “They’re a bit tougher too.”

“Yeah,” Lance said, “we’re having to _really_ pour it on.” Another fighter froze and then shattered.

“It kinda feels like we should form Voltron?” Hunk suggested. “Just to get these guys off-planet.”

“Hunk’s got a point,” Shiro said. “Get ready to form Voltron!”

Pidge began flying up to enact her part of the transformation, but just for a moment, she saw a spare fighter headed towards the castle. On her radar, it pinged….. _oh no_ . An icy stab of fear. _It was headed right for Allura._

Not even consciously, she pulled out of the transformation amidst Keith crying “Pidge, _wait_!”

Seeing red, she roared as she blasted the fighter in her sights: “DON’T YOU FREAKING _TOUCH HER!_ ”

The fighter disintegrated….only to reveal another one headed straight at Pidge. She scrambled to dodge the oncoming blasts, but it was too late; they hit Green right in the underbelly.

The lion began spiraling into a tailspin. “Guys, I’m going down!” Unfortunately, the Voltron formation sequence had already begun and could not be interrupted.

“ ** _PIDGE!_ ** ” a collective scream went up, Allura included, her voice reaching a terrified pitch Pidge didn’t think she’d ever heard from the princess.

Frantically, Pidge searched for a relatively soft patch of ground as alarms blared all around her. Finally, she yanked on the controls, sending Green into a skid. She bounced around in her seat as the lion slowed to a stop, letting out a steady stream of curses the whole way.

“Pidge, are you alright?” Shiro asked, sounding near-frantic.

“I’m fine,” she said, still in the cockpit. She started to move out of her seat. “Go take out the cruiser, I’ll wait for someone to pick me up.”

 _“I’m coming out with a transport immediately,”_ Allura said, sounding like she was still panicked.

“You get that, Pidge?” Shiro asked.

“Mmmhmm.”

“Alright. Stay there, and don’t try and walk back,” Shiro said, relief in his voice. “Let’s move!”

Voltron, _sans_ an arm, took out the fighter still circling and firing at it, then flew off to the cruiser. Pidge popped the cockpit, crawling onto Green. She winced as she saw the damage. It wasn’t as horrible as she thought it might be, but her lion’s front left leg was completely torn up. _“_ God _damn_ it.” She made some rage noises, noticing that her visor was cracked in several places as well.

In the distance, she saw Voltron begin to push the cruiser upwards, no doubt taking it into the upper atmosphere to finish it off so that the Balmera wouldn’t be affected. Having to do it with only one arm made it take slower, but eventually both were out of sight. She sighed, taking a sitting position on Green.

A few minutes passed and she saw a transport shuttle coming closer. The group had built and trained the Balmerans on two of them over the past week. The driver was Shay, who’d taken to the tasks with a great deal of enthusiasm and skill; she’d been the best in her “class”, so to speak.

Allura was in the co-pilot’s seat. _Oh boy._

“Number five,” Shay called, “we have come to assist you.”

Pidge slid down off of Green, chuckling slightly. “You really _can_ just call me Pidge, Shay.”

Shay blinked. “Oh. Of course. Your Coran had referred to you before as numbers. Very well, then... _Pidge_.” She sounded out the syllables one by one, making it sound like _Pid-guh._

Allura, meanwhile, was silent. A mixture of emotions was on her face, but it was mostly fear. And anger. A lot of anger.

Pidge gave a nervous smile. “I’m okay. No broken bones or anything.” She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at Green. “ _She’s_ got a busted leg, but we can fix that.”

Shay frowned, looking at the lion. “Were this a larger shuttle, we could perhaps take it back ourselves.”

“Eh, the others can pick it up later.”

Finally breaking her silence, Allura shuddered, giving a deep sigh. “You scared me, Pidge. _Please_ be more careful in the future.” A flash of pure, worried anger appeared on her face. “How could you do something so _FOOLISH_?”

Pidge stepped back slightly, Allura’s voice holding an unexpected force in it. She swallowed. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t just let it _kill_ you.”

Allura stepped forward. “So instead you decided to recklessly endanger yourself? The castle defenses could have dealt with it _easily_!”

“I’m expendable!” Pidge said. “If I’m taken out for a bit, you can always find another pilot. Without you, we’re-”

" _You are NOT expendable!”_ Allura shouted. “How could you even _think_ such a thing?! I- _we_ can’t lose you!” Now she was breathing heavily, visibly willing her face not to crumple, hands shaking at her side.

Pidge was taken aback, eyes wide. Shay, meanwhile, was shifting uncomfortably, seemingly unsure of what to say.

Pidge sighed. _Good job, idiot_. “I’m sorry,” she said, quiet. “I….” She faltered and looked away.

Shay came over to Allura and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Perhaps we should return to the castle? A medical check may be needed for young Pidge despite her lack of visible injuries.”

Slowly, Allura calmed, face softening as she took a deep breath. “Yes. Of course. Please try not to do something unbelievably stupid like that again.” She went back to the shuttle.

Pidge looked at Shay, too tired to say anything.

She nodded, and they both headed to the shuttle.

Pidge thought to herself as the shuttle chugged along the surface. It was easy to forget sometimes that out here, in this wild frontier of space, she and the others could die at any moment. Things could go unsaid. Important things. Especially since they had a great deal to do with her actions today.

Pidge squared her shoulders in the shuttle seat. Well. She’d collected all the data she needed and come to her conclusions. Now just to put it into action.

But that could come later. _Much_ later, after a checkup….and a nice long rest.

____________________________________________________________________

A few hours later, Allura was breathing in and out, eyes closed as she sat in her armor in a meditative position on a countertop in the kitchen. Her room was too suffocating at the moment, and the lights in here had a pleasing effect on her temperament….which was rather discombobulated at the moment.

Pidge crashing replayed over and over again in her mind, along with the torture session they had suffered. It seemed that no matter what she did, she couldn’t stop her green paladin from getting hurt. The others got hurt as well, of course, and she worried about them when it happened, but none other than Pidge sent her spiraling into fear and anguish quite so acutely.

It was because of these dratted _feelings_. But what was she supposed to _do_ about them? The fight against Zarkon was so important; did she really have time to pursue a relationship like this? And there was the species difference, and the fact that Pidge was a paladin, and….

These thoughts circled in her mind as the door opened audibly. She opened one eye to see Keith, looking surprised. “Hello, Keith,” she said, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary in finding her in such a position. She opened her other eye and moved off the countertop.

“Uh….hey.” He picked up a cup and began squirting food goo into it, still looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “What exactly were you...doing?”

“Meditating,” she answered. “I believe it would benefit _you_ on occasion to try it.”

Keith shrugged. “Not really a meditation kind of guy on the best of days.” He leaned back against the wall, digging into the food goo.

“Still, it’s something to consider.”

Keith nodded. “Did it help _you_?”

Allura sighed. “I’m….not sure. It’s these feelings I have for Pidge. I….believe they may be beginning to interfere with my judgments and performance. I snapped at her today.”

Keith snorted. “Good. What she did was totally stupid.”

“Yes,” Allura agreed, “but I think I would have been less harsh even if my feelings were strictly….professional.”

“ _Oh_.” Keith suddenly looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

“I’m sorry to saddle you with all this, Keith,” Allura said quickly. “But I just don’t know what to _do_. There’s so many things that could go wrong.”

There was a long silence. Finally, Keith spoke: “So what?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You say there’s lots that could go wrong,” Keith began. “That’s our whole _lives_ out here. We’re all in completely uncharted territory.” A small chuckle. “You think I knew I was going to be piloting a giant robot lion after I met these idiots?”

“What are you saying, exactly?” Allura said. Something new was burgeoning in her heart. The fear was still there, but there was also something like….hope?

“All I’m saying is, don’t think about what could go wrong. Just….do it and see what happens. Life’s too short.”

“And if she doesn’t feel the same way?” Allura pointed out.

Keith shrugged. “Then everything just goes back to the way it was before. It’s that simple.”

“I see….” Allura straightened up and gave him a fond smile. “Thank you, Keith. I believe I will follow your advice.”

“Glad to be of service….can I go now?”

She chuckled. “You are dismissed, paladin.”

________________________________________

Pidge awoke to the sounds of loud banging on her door. She groaned, flinging off the Altean-patterned covers, rubbing her eyes as the door slid open.

Standing over her were a worried looking Lance and Hunk. “You okay, buddy?” Lance asked.

Pidge nodded, more awake now. “Yeah. Medical check said I’m clean. How’d the rest of the fight go?”

“Oh, it went _just_ fine, y’know, except for that part where you could’ve been killed!” Hunk’s voice started as sarcastic and ended angry. He threw up his hands. “What the heck were you thinking?”

“Yeah, seriously!” Lance added. “That was stupid even by my standards!”

“....I wasn’t thinking,” Pidge admitted. “I couldn’t let them kill her.”

“Her?” Hunk asked.

“Wait, you didn’t see?” Pidge said, now confused. “Allura was right in the line of fire!”

“Uh, we were kinda forming Voltron? Like you were supposed to be doing?” Lance said.

“Y’know,” Hunk said, now calmer, “there’s better ways of showing you have a crush on somebody than almost dying for them.”

“I know, I just….acted on total instinct.” A sheepish grin. “I’ve got it bad, don’t I?”

“ _Super_ bad,” Hunk and Lance chorused.

Pidge hesitated for a moment, but abruptly straightened up, resolve in her eyes. “Actually,” she noted, “I’m ready to tell her that.” The grin reappeared and widened.

“Oh, sweet!” Lance crowed. “My lessons finally paid off, huh?”

“More like I figured out that….this is real. It’s something that I want to do.” She noticed his face fall and added, “But you did help. You and Hunk both.”

Lance brightened at that, as did Hunk.

“So uh….how DO I tell her?” Pidge asked, shifting from foot to foot.

“Oh, _dude_ ,” Lance said, grinning now. “I am the MASTER of that.” 

“Go on,” Pidge said, amused. She was actually sort of eager to see what kind of flight of fancy he’d come up with.

“Okay, so, you gotta set the mood first. Slow guitar music, moonlight and stars, and then….you go...hey baby, wanna date?”

Pidge snorted and laughed, as did Hunk.

Lance grumbled. “Alright, Hunk, guess YOU’RE up.”

“I mean, he’s right that you wanna pick the right moment, but just….have some idea of what you want to say, and then say it. Skip the overdramatic crap.”

Pidge nodded. “Okay. Thanks, you guys.”

“Good luck,” Hunk said, clapping a hand on her shoulder.

Lance clapped the other one. “Make us proud.”

__________________________________________________

The sun was setting on the Balmera. Sitting on a rock overhang, Allura gazed into the distance, considering her thoughts as the others milled about her with the Balmerans. They had actually managed to get more work down after the attack, surprisingly; Shay and her people were cheered by their progress, so they had offered food and drinks as a minor celebration. Allura had drifted away from the small party, however, to gather her thoughts.

“Mind if I join you?” a familiar voice said behind her.

Allura turned to see Pidge. Of course the universe would send the current occupant of her thoughts. She smiled. “Certainly. How are you feeling?”

Pidge sat down next to her, legs kicking off the ledge of the overhang, looking up at Allura. “Coran said I was in ‘tip-top shape’,” she said, imitating his accent badly.

Allura laughed softly. “Good.”

Pidge now looked regretful. “Look, I’m sorry. Again. I can’t promise I won’t do it in the future, but...I’ll try not to make you worry so much.”

“Thank you. I should not have been so harsh. What you did _was_ reckless and stupid, but I know you only did it out of concern for my safe-”

“IREALLYLIKEYOUALOT,” Pidge blurted, interrupting Allura. Her eyes went wide and she slapped her forehead, groaning. “I’m such an IDIOT!”

Allura’s mouth now hung open in a most undignified manner. “I….what did you say?”

Pidge sigh-groaned, running hands through her hair. “I had it all planned out! I was going to say _exactly_ the right thing at _exactly_ the right moment!” She looked up at Allura. “I didn’t do it just because you’re a teammate. I did it because I _care_ about you. _So_ much. You’re so _strong_ and brave and you’re….you’re the most beautiful _person_ I’ve ever met.” She sniffled a little. “I didn’t want you to die. I couldn’t have lived with myself if you had and I could have done something about it.”

“Oh. I see.” Before her brain could finish filing this as something to Put Off Until Later, Allura reached over and pulled Pidge to her with one arm, causing the younger girl to look up in surprise.

“I care for you as well, my green paladin,” Allura whispered, running her other hand through Pidge’s hair. “I know it’s not proper, or smart, but…I can’t deny it any longer.”

Pidge’s eyes were wide, full of amazement and a little bit of hope, and red tinged her cheeks. “You….you mean it?”

“I would not say so if I didn’t, would I?” Allura said.

“Right, right, it’s just...I never thought _I’d_ be your type.”

“Well,” Allura countered, “you are _very_ funny, smarter than nearly any of us, and kinder than you often give yourself credit for.” She watched Pidge’s already-present blush deepen with each successive compliment. “Are such things not valued among partners where you come from?”

“It's not so much _that_ ,” Pidge said. “I just…” She rubbed her arm awkwardly. “I got made fun of in school for a lot of stuff like that.”

A great anger burned in Allura’s heart. How dare they? “Well, _I_ think such qualities are _very_ attractive.”

Pidge smiled at that, still blushing.

“I suppose,” Allura said after a silence, “we should tell the others?”

Pidge sighed, face returning to its normal color. “Yeah, I guess so. Keeping _this_ secret has been killing me inside.”

“A rather colorful metaphor,” Allura noted, “but an apt one.” They both stood up.

Pidge was looking down at her feet. “Do you wanna…hold hands or something?” she said, sounding so nervous. It was rather endearing.

Allura smiled, slipping her hand into Pidge’s. The younger girl now beamed up at her. “But of course. Now then, let’s be off, shall we?”

Ultimately, the reactions they got were what they expected: lots of cheering, a _very_ relieved Keith, and some initial resistance from Coran before he came around as well (though he was still muttering about it “never having been done before”).

  
Like the sunset of the Balmera, it was a new end….and a new beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you weren't expecting this, huh? This is the latest version of a chapter I've been working on for a while. Not as much Wingman Lance in this, but I think I got all my best jokes out with those chapters.
> 
> Fun fact: This fic is far from over! We've got a few more chapters before the end. And there will be other one-shots and a full-fledged semi-sequel after this finishes. Thanks to everyone for the comments and kudos. I can't wait for y'all to see what else I've got up my sleeves.


	9. Old....Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things pick up as the group encounters an old pair of....not exactly "friends".

The space mice skittered around Allura as she hummed an old Altean song, combing Pidge’s hair. Surprisingly, the mice had not been secret-givers in this recent situation; it seemed they had a certain sense of drama.

“You said before this grew out nicely?” Allura asked.

“Yeah, but honestly? I’m kind of getting used to it like this,” Pidge said, leaning back against Allura and looking up at her. “Do you ever cut yours?”

“Occasionally,” Allura said. “When it gets  _ too _ long to handle. But that is only once every year or so.”

“Well,  _ I _ like it at that length,” Pidge said, lips quirking up.

“You are,” Allura said, smiling and punctuating each word with a brush stroke, “ _ very _ cheeky today.”

“Just happy I guess,” Pidge said, turning around as Allura drew the comb away. “Happy that I’m with you.”

Every once in awhile, Pidge would say something that would completely disarm the poised, in-control princess. “I...I am happy to be with you as well.”

“Yeah….” Silence settled as they looked at each other. “Hey, can we uh….” Pidge stopped, looking nervous.

“Yes? What is it?” Allura asked.

PIdge hesitated, then began moving closer to Allura, eyes very serious and pink slightly tinging her cheeks. “Do you w-want to…” Her face was now only a few inches away from Allura’s.

Something clicked in the princess’ mind. “ _ Oh. _ ” She took a deep breath. “Yes, of course, if you wish to try it.” She had heard of this Earth custom, “kissing”, apparently quite common; it seemed odd, but apparently it was not exactly...unpleasant if you were doing it with someone you cared for. Allura began moving closer to Pidge as well, lips pursed and eyes closed.

Closer….

_ Closer _ ….   


“ _ Begging your pardon, princess!”  _ a voice squawked over the intercom.

“GAH!” they both went, scrambling away from each other, red-faced.

“Yes?” Allura said, voice squeaking slightly, then cleared her throat. “Yes, Coran?” she repeated with more dignity.

“ _ It seems we have someone wishing to speak with us about a possible alliance!”   _ His voice boomed even over the intercom.

“It appears we are needed,” Allura noted to Pidge. “We’ll be up there shortly, Coran. Notify the other paladins as well.”

Pidge sighed, sounding disappointed.

Allura grinned, quickly leaning down to boldly peck her on the cheek. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we can do that sort of thing later.” She winked.

Pidge’s wide-eyed, stunned expression morphed into a goofy smile as she held her cheek. “Yeah. Later.”

_________________________________________________________________

Pidge, uncharacteristically, was humming a song as she strode down the hall, now in paladin armor, the world’s largest smile on her face. She improvised some dance steps, moving fluidly towards the main deck.

Everyone else was already there. Shiro raised an eyebrow as he saw Pidge sliding into the room. “You’re awfully chipper today,” he said, sounding amused. “Any particular reason?”

She looked at Allura, sharing a smile with her. “Oh, nothing much.”

An “Ahhhhh” of understanding echoed through the room.

“Ugh, get a room!” Lance booed, though he was grinning as he said it.

“We  _ were _ in one,” Pidge said, still smiling.

Allura turned to Coran. “You said someone was trying to contact us?”

Coran nodded. “Said he had news of a possible rebellion that might interest us.” He clicked a few buttons on a console, pulling up an image on the main viewscreen.

On it was a wiry, humanoid figure with blue skin and pointed ears far sharper and longer than those of the Alteans. He had thick, black hair tied in a knot on his head and an equally black beard. His clothing seemed to have been recently acquired, as it was finely made and detailed. He smiled slightly, leaning back in the seat of what was clearly a ship. “So you’re the paladins of Voltron, huh? Name’s Moro. I’m what you’d call a rebel sympathizer. Tryin’ to help out some former compatriots of mine that I spent camp time with. You in?” He spoke in a slightly high-pitched yet resonant voice and a rhythmic patois.

“We are always willing to help out those who fight against the Galra,” Allura said, smooth as silk. Pidge was always impressed by how she could so easily shift into that mode. “What information do you have about these comrades of yours?”

“Well, it’s like this, I was arrested for speaking out against ‘em,” Moro began. “Bit of an artist in that regard. I spent some time with a couple of cool guys from across the galaxy. We got bounced around between a bunch of camps.” He grinned. “We were always talkin’ about rebellion, I just never got the chance to help out until they helped me escape. Plan was to get hold of my money again, then come back and break ‘em out. But we also heard about you guys. So I figure you can help smuggle in supplies they need AND provide extra firepower.”

“That certainly sounds doable,” Allura noted.

Pidge watched Shiro step up to the screen. “Do you have any concrete information on this camp?” he asked. “Sorry to insist, but we’ve had some trouble before with people claiming to be friendly to our cause out of the blue.”

Moro nodded. “Hey, man, I completely understand. It’s on a planet called Gris’axia. I actually wanted to meet you guys in person, though. You guys been to the Karthulian system?”

Pidge glanced at everyone else, who did the same with her. They had indeed; it had been the place of a multi-tiered “training mission”. “Yes,” Shiro answered. “We’re pretty familiar with it.”

Moro’s grin widened. “So you guys know the Fripping Bulgogian. I’m heading there right now, Gris’axia’s pretty close to it. I’ve traveling with some folks who can help us out, so you wanna meet in say….” He calculated the time on his fingers. “...about a day?”

Pidge, leaning forward to look at the screen, idly thought that that was a little suspiciously short, but Allura answered, “Yes, that should be agreeable. Give me just a moment to commiserate with my team.” Moro nodded as she muted his screen and turned to Shiro and the others. “Are there any objections?”

“We have to take what chances we can,” Pidge said, now leaning back to look at Shiro.

“Pidge is right,” Keith said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We gotta help as many people as we can even with a risk like this.”

Hunk sighed. “I mean we should still be like  _ really cautious _ . Unless everyone wants me to go ‘I told you so’ again? I mean,  _ I _ enjoyed doing that, but you guys kinda seemed like you didn’t.”

Lance shrugged. “Hey, we’re on turf we know, right? We can always cut and run if things go bad.”

Shiro nodded. “We know the territory. It’s worth a shot.”

Allura unmuted Moro. “It’s a bargain, sir. We shall help you in whatever way we can.”

Moro gave a lazy salute. “See you there. Man, this will give me a  _ ton _ of inspiration…” He was muttering to himself about possible ideas for songs and poems even as the screen shut off.

Pidge stretched out. “Guess we’d better prep for the wretched hive of scum and villainy again, huh?”

Everyone save Allura and Coran groaned at that. At the quizzical looks she got, Pidge clarified: “Earth reference.”

“You really must show me some of this Earth popular culture at some point,” Allura observed.

_________________________________________________

Allura tapped her finger on the bar. She hadn’t come with the paladins on their last visit here, but it was hard to disagree with Pidge about it being a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.” It was a rowdy,  _ loud _ place where fights seemingly broke out every few minutes. Though the bartender (a muscled, feline-looking fellow named Leon) was a friendly enough sort, chatting with Shiro about recent Galra activities. He didn’t seem to care for them much either. 

Everyone else was doing their own thing: Keith was standing against a wall, eyes alert for any possible dangers, but his head was bobbing to the music playing. Hunk had managed to gather a crowd as he enthused about various recipes. Lance seemed to have actually found a woman genuinely interested in him; Allura’s ears picked up that she was just as awkward and fumbling. And Pidge was examining some kind of...actually, Allura wasn’t sure. But it was some kind of gadget stuck in a wall.

Allura chuckled. Always the curious one. A big, burly looking alien came over, spikes on his forearms. “Buy you a drink, sweetheart?” he rumbled. A sleazy grin showed through his teeth and he was entirely too close to her for her comfort.

Allura sighed. “No, thank you,” she said, firmly. She supposed she should have expected this kind of low-key harassment.

“I insist,” he continued, moving even closer to her. Now it was becoming less low-key. “Wouldn’t wanna be unfriendly, would ya? Nobody says no to Oghra.”

“I  _ said _ no thank you,” she repeated.   


“Hey!” a voice said from behind them. Allura turned to see Pidge, a scowl on her face. “Is this guy bothering you, Allura?”

“Beat it, runt,” Oghra growled. Pidge’s scowl deepened and her hand reached towards her bayard.

“Not to worry, Pidge,” Allura cut in. “I can handle this myself.” With alarming speed, she grabbed one of Oghra’s arms, which had been getting ever closer, and  _ slammed _ it down on the bar. Shiro and Leon looked over, both with impressed and slightly terrified expressions on their faces.

Oghra howled in pain. Allura smirked. “See?”

He held his arm and looked over at Leon. “She busted my arm!” he whined.

“I saw,” Leon said, tone curt. “I also saw you harassing one of my patrons. Go see a doctor and beat it, Oghra.” His muscles rippled under his shirt. “Unless you want to make something of it?”

Shiro readied his arm as well, a glare on his face. Pidge was still tense, gripping her bayard tightly, while Allura curled her first into a ball.

Oghra looked at the four people ready to fight him, then grumbled and left, trudging out the door and wincing in pain. “Sorry about that, your majesty,” Leon said. “I’m actually making this permanent. Gotten a lot of complaints about him.”

“Thank you,” Allura said, turning back to Pidge. “You know, that  _ was _ very gallant of you. I appreciate it.”

“I just hate when guys do that,” Pidge said, scowl softening. “Is Moro here yet?”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Moro made a grand entrance, coming in the door with light reflecting off him. “Paladins, friends!” he said, gesturing in his fine, old-styled coat. Looking at it again, it looked a little bit like Altean fashion, if a tad more extravagant.

“Good afternoon, Moro,” Allura said, serene. “You said you were traveling with people who could help?”

He gestured over his shoulder. “They’re right outside, actually.”

“I see. Shiro, please gather the others and come meet us.”

“No problem. C’mon guys!” Shiro said, getting the room’s attention.

Everyone headed outside, following Moro to a very familiar looking ship.

And outside it were an equally familiar pair of bounty hunters.

The one with purple skin, an aviator’s cap, and a metal leg had a small smile across his face. “Well, well, well,” Rolo drawled. “Pleasure to see you folks again.”

__________________________________________

“It’s a trap!” Pidge yelled, summoning her bayard. The others did too, and Shiro fired up his arm while Allura moved into a fighting position.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Moro shouted, coming in between the two groups. “Trap? What trap? There’s no trap here.”

“Yeah, right,” Hunk scoffed. “You just  _ happen _ to bring the guys who double-crossed us before.”

Moro blinked. He turned back to Rolo and Nyma. “What? You never told me  _ that _ .”

Rolo shrugged. “We met up with this guy a while back, figured you guys were the best people who could help him.”

“He’s right,” Nyma said, standing with a hand on her hip. “Hello again, Lance.”

Lance grumbled and glared at her, still aiming his gun.

“And I’m paying them,” Moro continued, talking quickly, “so there’s no double-cross coming. Alright?”

Shiro looked at Moro. “If it does,” he said, “the deal’s off in a heartbeat. We can’t afford to take too many risks. Especially with people who tried to sell us out to the Galra before.”

Moro nodded, still looking a bit perturbed by the revelations.

“Shiro,” Pidge hissed, “you really think we can trust any of these guys?”

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Shiro said, then turned to Allura. “It’s your decision, ultimately. Trust or not to trust?”

Pidge watched as Allura’s face went through a mixture of emotions. “I cannot say this is an ideal situation,” she finally began, “but if you believe them to be trustworthy and can guarantee their cooperation, we can continue our arrangement.”

Rolo chuckled a bit as he, Nyma, and Beezer strolled up. “Actually, I’d like to sweeten the deal a bit.” He looked down at Pidge. “You’re the hacker genius kid, right?”

Pidge bristled a bit at being called a kid. “Yeah….” she said, unsure of where he was going.

“The whole reason we tried to sell you guys out in the first place,” Nyma said, “was because we’ve got a price on our heads. Stole some Galra merch. You think you can erase it from their records?”   


Pidge pondered the question. “I  _ can _ , the question is do we  _ want _ to,” she said, looking at Allura.

Allura hesitated, but nodded. Pidge had learned to pick up certain unspoken things in her facial expressions and body language; this one was “any chance to lessen a double-cross is one we have to take.”

Pidge sighed. “Yeah, we can do that.”

“Splendid!” Moro clapped his hands together and beamed a somewhat forced smile. “We’re all friends now, then?”

Grumbled agreement rose up through the ranks.

________________________________________________

Some hours later, the castle approached the supply ship that Rolo and Nyma picked out. An additional agreement had been made: to ensure that the bounty hunters would not simply leave or attempt to contact the Galra for another double-cross, they would be accompanying each part of the team. Rolo would be going with Keith and Pidge to find the database that contained criminal records. Nyma and Beezer, meanwhile, would accompany Shiro and Allura to steal the supplies. Hunk, Lance, and Coran (who wasn’t exactly thrilled when he heard the plan, but was going along with it) were on distraction duty outside the ship with the lions and castle (Moro was staying in the castle as well).

The entire group was currently waiting on Pidge, who said she had something that would help Allura on the mission. Allura took notice of a number of things as she waited.

Hunk and Lance were standing close to Rolo and Nyma, who had been allowed on the ship after agreeing to constant supervision. Lance in particular was eyeing Nyma with suspicion, though she remained unflappable, a pistol holstered on her hip. Hunk was staring them both down with an intimidating glare with his arms folded in front of him. Shiro, Coran, and Keith were looking out the viewscreen.

Rolo, meanwhile, was examining an old-looking rifle. It looked like it could still work, but the age was showing. He noticed Allura looking. “Call it an heirloom,” he deadpanned.

“I’m sure,” Allura returned. She turned back around as she heard running footsteps. Pidge was coming up, something in her arms. She skidded to a stop, breathing heavily.

“Okay, so,” Pidge said, putting the items down, “I’ve been working on something that you can use hand-to-hand a bit more.” She gestured, and now Allura could see that they were gauntlets. Blue-and-white streaked down the articulated fingers. “Try ‘em on!” Pidge had that adorable look on her face that indicated she could barely hold her excitement in.

Allura picked them up. They fit perfectly, and when she curled her fist, electricity sparked from the newly formed hands. “Impressive.”

Pidge adjusted her glasses, clearly comfortable with the praise. “When you hit someone with them,” she explained, “it sends out a shockwave to push them back.”

“We’re coming up on the supply ship,” Coran observed.

“Okay, everyone get to your lions,” Shiro said. The group starting dispersing, though not before Allura noticed Pidge hesitating.

“You’re worried about me, aren’t you?” she said. It was strange to have the feeling in reverse.

Pidge nodded. “Those haven’t been tested fully yet, so just...be careful, okay? And keep an eye on Nyma.”

Allura took one off and touched Pidge’s forehead with a single finger; it was a typical gesture for an Altean’s significant other. “I will be with you.”

Pidge closed her eyes, completing the gesture. “Me too.” Allura lifted her finger and put the other gauntlet back on, watching Pidge run off to join Keith and Rolo.

She turned to see Nyma with a raised eyebrow. “Yes?”

Nyma shook her head. “You people are  _ weird _ .”

Allura shrugged this off. “Perhaps. Are we ready to go, Shiro?”

“Should be. Let’s head to Black.”

They did, flying towards the Galra ship as the battle was joined around them.

__________________________________________

Getting to the ship had been fairly easy for Keith and Pidge thanks to Lance, Hunk, and Coran’s cover. The lions were parked with shields up, so they started moving with Rolo in tow. He’d proven to be an actually good asset, snapping off shots with his rifle to hit various Galra goons in the hangar.

“Okay,” Pidge said, clicking buttons on her wrist computer. “Judging by the blueprints I snagged, the records room should be in this direction.” She pointed down the right side of the hall.

“The sooner we get this over with, the better,” Keith said, eyeing Rolo.

“Oh come on, Keith,” Pidge teased, “you can’t tell me you don’t want to bust some heads after having to deal with my personal life, do you?”

Keith smirked at that. “Gotta tell you, I was suffering for a while there. She told me not to tell  _ anyone _ . And before you say I’m good at keeping secrets, that was the first thing out of  _ her _ mouth too.”

“Uh, hate to interrupt your little….whatever this is,” Rolo said, sounding slightly confused as to why this conversation was even happening, “but aren’t we on a schedule here?”

“Right.” Pidge moved down the hall with them, keeping an eye out for soldiers. Though she figured that many were dealing with the attacks or the others.

The group walked down the hallways in relative silence before Rolo finally spoke up again. “So...what exactly  _ is _ going on between you and the princess, kid?”

Pidge frowned at the questioning. “It’s none of your business, but we’re together. Why?”

Rolo shrugged, the rifle shifting on his back. “I mean, you really think that’s gonna work out long term?”

Pidge noticed that Keith was glaring at the back of Rolo’s head like he wanted to make it explode. It was nice that he cared. “We haven’t really figured anything out that far ahead. We’re just taking it as it goes.”

“Uh huh.” Rolo smirked. “Kind of surprised. Royalty tend to be big snobs.”

Pidge stopped, turning around, a dangerous gleam in her eyes. “You wanna run that by me again?”

“I mean,” Rolo said, “if they  _ do _ do stuff with ‘commoners’, it’s usually some fling to get back at daddy or get a different taste of something.” His voice belied a certain level of...experience with such a thing. “Nothing serious or long-term.”

Growling now, Pidge marched up to Rolo, jabbing a finger in his midsection. “Listen, you,” she barked, “Allura’s not that kind of person! She’s strong and kind and….and wonderful! She’d never do something like that. You feel like insulting her some more? Go ahead.  _ Try me _ .”

Rolo blinked, clearly stunned by the vitriol in her voice. He put his hands up in a placating gesture. “Alright, no need to bite my head off. Let’s go finish this.”

Pidge took a deep, calming breath. She saw Keith looking down at her as they kept moving. “What?” she said, not in the mood.

“Don’t let him get to you,” he said, somewhat soothing. “What you and Allura have? It’s real. I can tell.”

A smile came back to her face. “Thanks.”

Finally, the group seemed to reach the data room. “Alright,” Pidge said, cracking her neck, “let’s get to work, boys.”

Galra soldiers entered the room as she began typing. Rolo unshouldered the rifle and calmly began blasting. “Happy to oblige, kid.”

________________________

“ _ Haaa! _ ” Allura cried, punching a hole through a Galra robot. She let it slide off her hand as Nyma fired behind her and Shiro took out others with his arm. They were in the supply room and had managed to be discovered.

“Gotta say, princess,” Nyma said between shots, “you’re pretty tough! Kind of surprised, actually. Most royalty I know aren’t willing to get their hands dirty like this!”

“I am not most royalty,” Allura answered, blasting several more guards back with the shockwave feature. She surveyed the room. The floor was littered with bodies now. “Shiro?”

“Yeah?” he said, panting heavily.

“Let us gather the supplies,” she tilted her head towards the boxes in the corner, “and be on our way, shall we?”

As they moved a box between them onto a carrier, Nyma looked at Allura. “So how’s the thing going with the kid?”

“Pardon?”

Nyma smirked. “Everyone saw that little forehead thing you did. What, are you in love with her?”

Allura huffed as she put the box down. “I’m not putting a label on it,” she said, “but we are together, yes. What of it?”

Nyma shook her head. “Of course the goody two-shoes start pairing off.”

Shiro looked over at her, lifting another box with Beezer. “You got a problem with how we run things?”

“Not a  _ problem _ , it’s just….what’s the point? What do you get out of adding complications to something that’s  _ already _ pointless?”

Allura ignored the latter part of that sentence, but glared, narrowing her eyes. “I suppose you think I should be strictly business? Not allow myself to care?”

“It’s easier that way,” Nyma said, quiet, pain lacing her voice.

Alura softened. “I know you have undoubtedly had a hard life,” she said, placing a hand on Nyma’s shoulder, who looked surprised, “but is it truly better to not forge connections to others? I care for Pidge, and she does for me. I would be poorer without her presence, without any of my paladins.” She thought for a moment. “Answer me this: if you truly believe what you say, could you leave Rolo and Beezer with nary a thought?”

“I…” But before she could answer, Shiro and Beezer plopped down the next box.

“We should get moving,” he said. “Guards are probably on their way, and Pidge says that her work’s done.”

“Very well, then.”

_________________________________

Pidge relaxed as everyone came back into the castle. The group had had to ultimately form Voltron to get rid of the ship once everyone’s tasks had been done, so she was ready for a rest. She sprinted up to Allura. “Good to have you back. How’d my little toys treat you?”

Allura made a few practice jabs. “Quite well. Though perhaps some adjustments may need to be made? Occasionally they felt a little sluggish and hard to move.”

Pidge nodded, adjusting her glasses. “I can do that, yeah.”

Moro clapped his hands together. “Good to see everyone back! Now we can get this show on the road.” His eyes lit up. “The battle, it was just...awesome! I’ve got so many song and poem ideas now!”

“Glad we can be inspiration to you,” Pidge deadpanned. Moro simply beamed, evidently not picking up on the sarcasm.

“Guess we’ll be on our way, then,” Rolo observed, holding out his hand. “Once our compensation is taken care of. You boys and girls ever need anything else….you know what we’ll ask for.” Moro nodded, plunking a set of cards down into the hand, then headed back over to Coran (the two had hit it off with a mutual enthusiasm for Altean culture; it turned out Moro was a student of it).

Rolo turned, counting the cards, but he looked back over his shoulder at Pidge. “Hey, kid?”

“Yeah?” Pidge asked.

“Take care of each other, huh? Wouldn’t want my favorite little hacker to be sad.”

“What? I…” Pidge looked up at Allura. It clicked. “...yeah. Yeah, I will.”

“Come on, Rolo,” Nyma said, pulling on his collar. “Leave the kids alone.” There was something different in her voice, Pidge noticed. Something more genuine and affectionate.

“Well, that actually wasn’t unpleasant,” she noted to Allura as the ship flew away.   
“No. No, I suppose it wasn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OC notes time! Moro is a cheerfully blatant transmogrification of Lin-Manuel Miranda, he of In the Heights, Hamilton, and Moana fame. I rather enjoyed writing him as a charming-if-pretentious artiste type. Leon, meanwhile, is basically Leomon from Digimon in terms of attitude and design. Oghra is just Generic Alpha Male Asshole, though I picture him as sort of sounding like John DiMaggio. The Karthulian system and the Fripping Bulgogian are from the Lion Forge comics tie-in, though Gris'axia is my own invention.
> 
> I enjoyed writing Rolo and Nyma as slightly shady and more cynical allies, as well as their slight turnaround by the end. Next up: things pick up even further, but I'll leave that as a surprise.


	10. Reunions and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise is in store for our heroes, in more ways than one....

Allura was lying her head down on the dining room table and nursing a headache as the paladins ate. They were very close to Gris’axia and Allura couldn’t be happier. While Moro had been a good houseguest on their journey through the Karthulian system, so to speak, his commiserating with Coran over Altean culture had...gotten out of hand. Moro had convinced him to help record Altean songs at full volume and play them through the castle’s speakers. At all times of the day.

Eventually the others had protested enough that she put a curfew on the songs, as well as a volume limit. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate an interest in her culture, but Pidge had called Moro “extra” in terms of his attitude, which felt very apt. He was kind and friendly, but very gregarious, so it was difficult to handle him 100% of the time. Especially since Lance was _also_ shamelessly encouraging this.

She felt a small hand on her arm. “You alright?” It was Pidge, Allura saw as she lifted up her head, looking concerned.

Allura gave out a soft laugh. “I’m fine. I appreciate your concern, though.” She lifted her arms up above her head, bones cracking as she stretched. Bringing her arms back down, she saw a plate of food now in front of her. Hunk smiled down at her.

“Probably a good idea to load up after that nap,” he noted.

Allura dug into his latest concoction with relish. The flavors cascaded into a beautiful mixture as it passed down her throat. “Exquisite as always, Hunk.”

He smiled at the compliment and almost got back into his seat before Coran’s voice came over the intercom: _“We’re coming up on Gris’axia within a few clicks, everybody.”_

“Understood, Coran,” Allura said, getting up from the table. Moro had informed them that the camp currently held meetings between work shifts. The time that they were set to arrive in, ergo, was a good time to meet in secret.

“Come, paladins,” Allura instructed. The others got up. As they headed towards the door, she looked at Pidge. “What do you think we should expect, hmmm?”

“I’d just be happy for another lead at this point,” Pidge groused. “Everything we find leads to a dead end.”

Allura ruffled Pidge’s hair. “They are never truly far if you keep them in your heart,” she said gently, and she was pleased when a little smile made its way across Pidge’s face. “I suppose I should join you on this?” she asked Shiro.

“You’d be a great help with coordinating with their leaders,” he said.

“Give me just a moment, then.”

____________________________________________

Pidge squinted in the dark as Moro led the group through a cave. The rocks inside and the walls were cracked and decayed. They’d landed on Gris’axia miles away from the camp to avoid detection, leaving the lions behind with Coran as well. “You sure this is the only way to get to your...quarters?” she complained, pushing one of the supply carriers with Allura.

“Sorry, little human,” Moro apologized. “It’s the only time we _can_ meet.”

“We understand,” Shiro said, smooth. “Gotta do what you can when you can.”

Pidge snorted. She loved Shiro like he was her brother too, but he could occasionally lay on the Cool Adult Leader thing _really_ thick.

“These caves are so different from the Balmera,” Allura said, sounding sad to Pidge’s ears. “There is no life left in them.”

“Shay would hate it,” Hunk noted, also sounding perturbed.

“Yes,” Moro said, rueful, “it will take many years for them to heal.” His ears suddenly perked up and a grin slid on his face. “Heh, my boy’s rallying the troops right now. He’s got some good poetry in him.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “If these guys are as pretentious as him,” she muttered, “we might have to do most of the work.”

Only Allura heard her. “No need to be rude,” she chided, though she sounded more amused than anything. Pidge knew Allura had, like the rest of them, about run out of patience with the poet and songwriter’s antics. She was amazed nothing had “accidentally” been thrown at him.

As the group continued to traverse through the cave system, Pidge heard Shiro ask “So Moro, what can you tell us about your leader?”

“Leader? Man, he’d hate to hear you say that. He’s only that way by default. Nobody else stepped up to do it.” Moro’s eyes narrowed. “Actually, he kinda looks like you guys.”

“You mean he’s human?” Keith asked.

“Humannnnnn,” Moro sounded the word out. “I guess so? He and his kid are from someplace called Earth.”

“Kid?” Pidge cut in. _A man and his son….from Earth…._ It was a small chance, absurdly random, but hope suddenly became a light in her chest.

“Yeah, about your guys’ age.” Moro squinted at Pidge. “Actually, he kinda looks like you. Bit taller though.”

Pidge’s breathing suddenly became very heavy (she thought she heard Shiro’s breath catch for a moment as well). She felt Allura’s hand on her shoulder. “Pidge, what’s the matter?”

“He’s….it might be Dad….and Matt…”

“ _Breathe,_ Pidge,” Allura said.

Pidge calmed a bit. “Okay. Okay, I’m good. I just…. _we’ve searched so long_.”

“I know.” Allura’s voice was gentle. “I am eager to meet them as well.” The unspoken _if they are here_ hung in the air between them.

Pidge took a deep breath and soldiered on. Moro eventually led the group into an open area. There were various makeshift sleeping arrangements all around, but none were occupied at the moment. Instead, the various shapes-and-sizes occupants were standing at attention as a figure held the floor: “-that we in it shall be remembered!”

Wait. _Henry V?_ That was…. _her father’s favorite play_ . And the figure from behind very much looked like him. Her breathing grew even heavier, and this time she _knew_ she sensed Shiro doing the same.

The figure continued, gesturing wildly: “We few, we happy few. We band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother, be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here! And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day!”

Pidge had the idle thought in her current state that the crowd probably had no idea what he was saying, but a _roar_ of approval went up through them anyway. The figure turned and…. _it was him_. A little more gaunt, with longer hair and stubble, but it was him just the same. The eyes. The glasses.

_Dad._

He came up to Moro, embracing him. “Moro! How’d you get back here, you scoundrel?” His voice still had that warm quality in it that she remembered.

“Paladins of Voltron, my main man,” Moro said, gesturing behind him, “and their princess too!”

Pidge felt Allura step past her, still trying to process what she was seeing. She had to make sure this wasn’t a dream. “Greetings. I am Princess Allura of Altea, and these are indeed the paladins of Voltron. You are Commander Samuel Holt, correct?”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Yes,” he began, “but how could you possibly know that?” The tone was more curious than suspicious.

“Well, I have at least two members of my team that know you quite well.” Allura stepped aside.

“Commander Holt?” Shiro whispered, his body shaking. “Is it really you?”

Sam’s eyes widened further. “No…. _Shiro?_ What are you doing out here?” His eyes, Pidge noted, glanced up and down to see the scar, the tuft of white hair, and the increased bulk and paler skin. “My _God_ .” His voice was sick with a horror Pidge had rarely heard. “What did they _do_ to you?”

“It’s a long story, sir-”

“ _DAD!_ ” Pidge couldn’t hold it in any longer, her helmet coming off as she launched herself at Sam, who spluttered a bit as she sobbed into his midsection.

“I’m sorry, I…” Recognition seemed to dawn in his eyes as Pidge looked up at him, tears still running down. “ _Katie_? I...I must be dreaming.”

She shook her head. “It’s no dream,” she said, trying not to sob further. “ _I found you. They said you were dead and I found you!_ ”

“Oh!” Sam wrapped his arms around her, crying now as well. They carried on like this for a minute or so before Sam leaned back, looking down at her. “Look at you. My little girl, here to save me.” He looked at the others, chuckling through the tears. “I guess I was right when I said you’d have your own crew, huh?”

Pidge wiped her face. “They’re the best, Dad.”

“How’d you all even get out here anyway? I mean, I know about Shiro, but I don’t believe I’ve met any of the rest of you. Are you from the Garrison?”

“Yup!” Lance crowed. “Hunk and me were in Pidge’s class.”

“Keith dropped out, but we all met up later,” Hunk added.

Sam looked over at Keith, who was leaning back against a wall but smiling. “Ah, you must be _the_ Keith. Shiro told me quite a lot about you.” The smile shifted into a frown. Sam raised a placating hand. “Nothing bad, nothing bad, he just liked to chat you up as a wonderful cadet.”

Pidge felt his gaze back on her, eyes questioning. “Pidge? Is that some kind of nickname?”

“As I said, sir,” Shiro said, voice dropping back into what Pidge might have guessed to be the familiarity of a subordinate to his commander (it sounded like how he addressed Allura at times), “it’s a long story. And we need to help you fight right now. We can catch up later.”

Sam nodded. “Of course.” He turned his head to the right side of the room. “Matt!” he hollered. “Get in here, I’ve got some people you want to see!”

“Geez, Dad,” another familiar voice echoed, “first Shakespeare and now you’re making people cry? What could I possibly be missing?” Matt walked into the room, yawning, but he straightened up, eyes wide, as Pidge locked eyes with him. “No way….Katie?”

She waved, now more secure emotionally. “ ‘Sup, bro.”

There was more crying, but on Matt’s end this time. And wanting to know about Shiro was again met with “It’s a long story.”

Moro, meanwhile, looked ecstatic. “A reunited family! A glorious battle! The songs sung of this day will be _legendary_!”

Sam chuckled. “I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with my friend’s...gregariousness.”

“It’s been no trouble,” Allura assured him, in a tone that Pidge recognized as “it’s been horrible but I’m trying to hide that fact.”

Pidge noticed Matt looking at Allura, jaw dropped. She smirked, sidling up to him as Sam chattered with Allura and the paladins about strategy. “You like her?”

“She’s hot,” Matt said, blunt.

“Well, sorry to say,” Pidge continued, not sounding sorry at all, “but she’s taken at the moment.”

Matt snapped his fingers in frustration. “Damn! It’s Shiro, isn’t it? He was always good at…. _charm_.”

Pidge shook her head, grinning. “Nope, it’s not him.”

“Keith? He’s got kind of the broody look that people like.”

A head shake.

“Those other two?”

Another head shake.

Matt frowned, confused. “Well, if it’s not any of them, then I guess that just leaves….” He looked at her, comprehension dawning. “No. No _freaking_ way!”

Pidge nodded, grin now at Cheshire Cat levels.

“I just...buh…. _how_?”

Now she frowned. “No need to sound THAT surprised.” She smacked him on the arm. “Asshole.”

He rubbed his arm, but was smiling. “Yeah, but I’m _your_ asshole. I’m sure you’ll give me the gritty details later anyway.” He went up with her to the larger group now.

“So, we’ve got a revolution to start, huh?” Pidge said to Sam.

“Indeed.” He opened one of the boxes and pulled out a laser rifle that was distinctly Galra. “If you’d like to join me?”

______________________________________________

The uprising was a complete success, Allura thought, now back at the castle in the dining room, sipping a special Altean tea. She had instructed Coran to take Samuel and Matt to be cleaned and given new clothes and rooms. Moro had elected to stay behind and help rebuild with the other former prisoners, who believed that the planet was enough to support new lives for them.

She couldn’t exactly say she was displeased with that outcome.

For now, she knew that Pidge and her brother were catching up with the other paladins. Allura had sensed a certain amount of guilt from Shiro based on his body language and tone of voice; she knew about the Kerberos mission and how it had been covered up by this Garrison from Pidge (a flash of anger went through her at remembering this). She hoped that Matt could put him at ease about it somewhat.

As for Allura, she was waiting for Samuel. He’d requested a discussion with her after changing, and she was happy to oblige. It would be strange to have another older figure on the ship outside of Coran now, since they were all so young. But it would be welcome, she imagined; she knew Shiro could often be stressed out at dealing with their arguing, so perhaps a mediator figure that was above their level could be useful.

The door opened on the other side of the room and she saw Sam come up, hair cut and face shaved. He was dressed in Altean military clothing similar to Coran’s, albeit with a blue jacket to complete the ensemble.

“Greetings, Commander Holt,” she said, serene as he gawked at the interior before looking at her.

He chuckled nervously. “Please, no need to stand on ceremony. I suppose I’m not really a commander anymore, given what I’ve been told.” His eyes darkened for a moment before returning to their friendly shade. “Call me Sam. Or Mr. Holt, if that’s more comfortable.”

“Very well then, Mr. Holt.” She raised her cup and indicated another one. “You said you wished to speak with me? Please, sit. This is a very special tea we drank on Altea.”

Sam sat across from her, picking up the cup as she passed it to him. He eyed for it a moment, then took a sip.

“What do you think?” she said, eager to hear his thoughts. It was always an adventure to see what these Earthlings thought of Altean dishes and drinks.

“It’s….bracing,” Sam noted, face scrunched up, “but I like it!” He sipped again. “Honestly, it’s just nice to have real food and drink again.” He stared into the distance for a moment. “I fought as much as I could,” he whispered. “But this...it takes a toll on you. And Shiro, _God_. I saw the arm. He told me what it could do. What they did to him.” Guilt was awash on his face.

Allura reached across the table to put her hand on his. “You cannot blame yourself,” she said, firm. “Only the Galra are guilty of their crimes against him. And I promise you they will pay for every inch of it. The paladins and I are determined to see Zarkon’s reign end.” She shifted in her seat, moving the hand back towards the teapot to pour more.

Sam was tense for a moment, but eventually he relaxed a bit and took another sip. “I’ll help you,” he declared. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. I may not be able to pilot a giant robot lion, but whatever you need from me, I’ll provide it.”

Allura nodded. “I would not ask you to do this myself, to be quite honest. I know you and your son are still recovering from your time in captivity. Knowing what I know now, I may not have let Shiro into the Black Lion either.”

He shook his head. “You’re all so young, and you’ve been through so much. It’s the least I can do. Matt wants to help too, in the ways that he can.”

Allura took another sip as he put his cup down. “So, on a different subject,” he said, his voice taking on a interrogatory tone as he tented his fingers together in front of his face, “am I to understand that you’re currently in a relationship with my daughter?”

Allura choked on her tea in surprise, almost spitting it out. Coughing, she took a few breaths to collect herself. “I…..yes?” Her ears wilted slightly. She had stared down tyrants, bounty hunters, and generals alike. She found that she was not quite prepared for the possible wrath of the parent of a significant other.

Sam grinned as his fingers untented. “Well, I can’t say it’s something I expected, though it’s hardly the strangest thing I’ve dealt with lately. Katie...Pidge? I’m still confused about that. She never showed much interest in that kind of thing back home. But maybe that’s because she didn’t find anyone who met her standards. Obviously, you do.”

Allura colored slightly at the praise, though the fear was now gone. “I suppose,” she mused, “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

Sam shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t worry too much. Either way, I’m happy for her. I just...please take care of her. Especially since we’re out here. And I can’t stop her from doing all….this. She’d never forgive me if I forced her not to fight injustice.”

“I promise you,” Allura declared, “I would not do anything less. I will protect her with my life.”

  
Sam nodded. “Good! Now,” he swished his cup around, “how about some more of that tea, eh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys get a two for one special today! Not much to add this time, except that Sam and Matt are largely my own extrapolations based on their very brief screentime thus far; my Sam's got a little bit of Scott Bakula dorkiness in him, for instance (which, if you are familiar with Bakula's most famous role, should be extra funny). And his coat/Altean outfit is very much based on Percy from the fantastic webseries Critical Role.
> 
> Next time: an old foe resurfaces for a fight to the finish. We're two chapters away from the end of this story!


	11. D-D-Danger, Watch Behind You!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A familiar foe appears just as everyone's trying to take a goddamn break.

Pidge was up early, as usual, this time in the general lab looking over data from her lion. The fixing-up had gone well prior to rescuing Dad and Matt, but she always liked to triple-check after such things were completed. That and she wanted Green at her best to show off to them.

“So far, so good…” she muttered to herself. The door slid open behind her. Small steps, deliberately taken, no wasted movements. _Keith_.

She turned in the chair. “Hey there, Red Ranger. Need something?” Pidge grinned. She enjoyed needling Keith more than anyone save Lance, mostly to see how he would or wouldn’t react.

He raised an eyebrow. “Red Ranger?” he repeated.

“Oh come on, you never saw that old show Power Rangers?” Pidge sighed when she got a blank look from him. “You really had a deprived childhood.”

Keith scoffed. “Sure I did. Anyway, your girlfriend wants everyone on the main deck. Says we’re heading to visit the Arusians.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow as she closed the program and got out of the seat. “Alright. Are they in danger?”

Keith shrugged as they began walking up to the deck. “Beats me. She just wanted everyone.”

“I guess it’s not an emergency,” she mused, “or she’d have been blaring in my eardrums.”

“Oh, now you _don’t_ like her voice?” Keith teased.

Pidge shoved him playfully. “I’m never going to hear the end of it from you, am I?”

“Unless you keep a secret of _mine_ ….no.”

They both laughed as they entered the deck. Everyone else was already there, and the ship was already going through a wormhole. Pidge thought that Dad looked a little ridiculous in his new Altean outfit, like he was trying to be “cool”, but it did seem to be more comfortable than that awful Galra prison outfit. Matt, meanwhile, had gone for a much more casual mode of dress, though even that seemed semi-formal on Altea.

Allura turned away from the main viewscreen, smiling in that way that made Pidge’s heart skip a beat. “Ah, good, you’re here. I believe we are in need of a….” She turned to Lance. “You called it a va-cay-shun?”

Lance nodded, face eager. “Heck yeah! With all the crazy family finding stuff we’ve done lately? We need a _break_ , my dudes.”

 _Oh, Lance_ , Pidge thought, _never change. Well, maybe a little._

“For once, Lance and I are in complete agreement.” Pidge couldn’t help but snicker as Lance first brightened, then frowned at Allura’s statement. “We all deserve to relax a little after recent events. I believe Arus is a suitable spot for doing so.”

“It’ll be nice to be on a planet and not have to work,” Dad said, sounding wistful.

“This was where you guys first ended up, right?” Matt asked.

“Correct, number six! The paladins found us in cryosleep and the whole big shebang started from there!” Coran said, then frowned, peering down at Matt. “Or are you number five now? Adding new people to the height system is always a bit tricky.”

“I’m still the shortest,” Pidge said, a deadpan smile on her face.

“Quite right!” Coran replied, with oblivious cheer.

The ship exited the wormhole- _WHAM!_ It rocked and alarms began to blare as everyone righted themselves. Pidge groaned. “What just hit us?”

“It’s a Galra cruiser!” Allura announced, looking through the viewscreen.

Pidge noticed a flashing light nearby. “We’re being hailed,” she said, fist clenched and jaw set.

“Coming onscreen.” Coran’s voice was grim.

A familiar face appeared on the screen, although he had a few more scars than the last time she’d seen him. A sharp intake of breath escaped Pidge as she clenched her first tighter. _Yurak_.

“Greetings, paladins of Voltron! And the _lovely_ princess, of course.” Yurak cackled. There was something different about him, Pidge thought as her heart thumped. Something less... _stable_. “I see you’ve added to your number since our last encounter.”

His eyes flicked over to Pidge, who felt herself freeze, but she glared right back at him. “Your family, perhaps? I see a certain resemblance in them. Well, it’s good to have your loved ones near when you die, I suppose.” He cackled again. “Prepare to be boarded!.” The screen shut off.

The ship rocked again, Pidge holding onto the back of a seat with a fierce grip.

“Let us act swiftly,” Allura said, gripping a console as the ship righted itself again. “Ready yourselves for battle!”

___________________________________

Allura quickly devised a plan. The amount of Galra soldiers was surprisingly small in the boarding party, and nobody seemed to be attacking the castle from the outside apart from the connector that the boarders were entering through. They split into two groups: Shiro, Keith, Matt, and Hunk would protect the higher end of the castle, while she, Pidge, Sam, and Lance would take care of the lower levels.

Allura cast a worried glance at Pidge over her shoulder as the group walked through the corridors. The green paladin was checking her wrist computer for Galra, while Sam was loading a weapon he’d gotten from the armory that he’d compared to an Earth creation called a “revolver”, carefully checking each chamber. Allura had expressed concerns about his combat abilities, but this had merely gained her a raised eyebrow: “I can pull my own weight, Princess, don’t you worry about little ol’ me.” Lance had his bayard at the ready.

Her failure to save Pidge from Yurak’s torture still entered her mind now and again. She had sworn it would not happen again, and yet here was a scenario where Pidge might have to face him.

“Pidge,” she ventured. Pidge glanced up at her.

“Yeah?”

“Are you...alright? I know this can’t be easy, given our past experience with the commander.”

Pidge shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I _hope_ we meet up with him. I wanna kick his ass.” Her usual toothy grin looked sharper and more dangerous.

Lance frowned. “Just be careful, okay, bud?”

“I _said_ I’m fine.” Now Allura could hear irritation in her voice.

She caught Sam’s curious eye as he clacked the pistol shut. “Did something happen with this Yurak?”

“It’s nothing,” Pidge said, too quickly. “He captured us, zapped me a few times. No big deal.”

“Zapped you?” Allura felt horror in her voice, and she saw Sam’s face pale. Lance just looked uncomfortable. “He tortured you, Pidge! All I could do was sit there and watch! I’m not going to let that happen again.” She barreled forward, hoping that harshness would dissuade Pidge. “I...I forbid you to fight him!”

“You _forbid_ it? You don’t have to protect me!” Pidge said, voice getting louder. “I want payback, and you’re _not_ going to take it away!”

Allura felt a familiar, icy stab of fear, but before she could say anything more, Pidge growled, “ _Whatever,_ ” and stomped off.

Sam sighed, still pale. “I’ll go talk to her,” he began, but Allura held up a hand.

“Give us just a moment, will you?” Sam hesitated, but nodded, then turned to see Lance idly holding his gun in Sam’s direction. Allura heard him say, “Young man, I think you need to point that somewhere else” as she walked over to where Pidge was, stewing in a corner.

“Pidge,” she said, gentle. She got a scowl in response. “I perhaps misspoke,” she admitted. “I just….I’ve lost so much. I don’t want to lose you too.”

Pidge’s face softened as she sighed. “I know you worry about me. But I’m a paladin of Voltron! I can handle myself, and you know it.”

“Yes, I do know,” Allura confirmed. “But Yurak is too deadly a foe to face alone. And his current….mental state seems unbalanced. That makes him even more dangerous.”

Pidge nodded in agreement. “He’s a little crazy, yeah. Okay, I won’t fight him _alone_ , but….maybe we can both do it? If we even run into him.”

“An acceptable compromise,” Allura said, putting a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “I suppose we’re better together, then?”

 _Now_ Pidge gave one of her patented, warm grins. “Guess we are.”

_Oh, I don’t deserve you._

“Uh, hate to interrupt your little lovefest,” Lance shouted, “but we got company!”

Galra were indeed coming around the corridor. Sam strode forward, silent, and fanned the hammer on the gun. It made little _pachew_ noises as Galra soldiers dropped, one by one, until he was out of charges. The barrel smoked as he looked back at the group with a wry smile. “Still worried if I can fight, princess?”

Allura blinked, amazed. _Like father, like daughter._

“Pidge, your dad is a BADASS!” Lance whooped. Sam looked pleased with himself at that compliment.

“That _was_ pretty cool, Dad,” Pidge admitted, before her wrist computer made a beeping sound. Allura watched her frown as she looked at it. “We’ve got more incoming on this end _and_ there’s a bunch heading to the engine room. They probably want to disable the ship so we’re easier pickings.”

Sam nodded. “Princess, how about you two head down there?” He looked at Lance. “We can hold them off here. Time to see if you can shoot that as well as your mouth.”

Lance smirked. “Just watch me, old man.”

Allura curled a fist in her gauntlet. “Yes, that sounds like an acceptable strategy. Shall we, then?”

Pidge nodded. The pair headed to the engine room, cutting down soldiers as they went.

Allura opened the door to laser fire issuing from within. “Some cover, if you please?”

Pidge extended her bayard as she ran through, battering soldiers off the walkway as Allura entered behind her.

A familiar figure was standing at the console.

___________________________________________

“ _Yurak_ ,” Pidge spat, feeling the rage build in her.

Yurak turned, chuckling. He had a long spear-like object in his right hand. “We just keep running into each other, don’t we?”

“What have you done to the engines?” Allura said, sounding unnaturally calm to Pidge.

“I’ve set them to overload. You see, I realized something after my demotion thanks to you. Zarkon is a fool. He will _never_ be able to control Voltron, and he does not NEED it. You will all die here, and his journey towards total conquest will be complete.” He pressed a button on the side of his spear and the tip electrified. “Unless you think you can stop me?”

Pidge looked up at Allura. “Together?”

Allura nodded and shifted into a battle stance. “Together.”

“How touching,” Yurak said, mockery in his voice. His face twisted into a snarl as he ran at them. “ _DIE!_ ”

Pidge dodged a spear strike, but Allura wasn’t so lucky, yelping in pain as the spear caught her arm. Growling, Pidge extended her bayard to take a shot at Yurak’s head, but he caught it, pulling her towards him and kicking her in the stomach.

Catching her breath, Pidge saw Allura trading blows with Yurak, getting some good hits in with the gauntlets. “Pidge!” she called out between blows. “Disable the overload!”

“Got it!” Pidge headed towards the console, typing away. The engine was making noises it really, really shouldn’t. _Okay, just gotta reverse the polarity here, then connect this to here…._ Finally, the engine stopped its unnatural stuttering. Pidge turned to see Yurak jumping at Allura, thrusting his spear down, but she managed to uppercut him. Sending him towards Pidge.

“Gah!” She dodged, sending her helmet flying off and him crashing to the ground around the glowing engine. Pidge raised an eyebrow at a sheepish-looking Allura.

“I...don’t know my own strength sometimes?” the princess offered.

“No kidding.” Pidge kicked Yurak’s spear off the walkway as he got up.

Yurak glanced around frantically for his weapon. “Sorry, asshole,” Pidge taunted. “You’re out of luck.”

Yurak growled. “You filthy _brats!_ I HAD EVERYTHING! And you _took it away from me!_ I don’t need a weapon! _I’ll rip you apart with my bare hands! GRAHAHHAHA!”_ He lunged at Allura, swiping at her with his claws, getting in a scratch on her arm.

“Get away from her!” Pidge yelled, jabbing him in the side with her bayard. He growled, backhanding her away.

Getting up, she saw Allura grab Yurak’s arm, causing him to howl in pain. “ _You will not touch her again_.” Allura’s voice was cold with fury.

Pidge took that as her cue to extend her bayard to wrap around Yurak’s midsection. He struggled, but it was in vain.

“ _Now!_ ” she yelled.

Allura let go of the arm, backed up, and took a running start, bringing both fists together and _slamming_ them into Yurak just as Pidge detached her bayard. He flew into the engine, screaming all the way.

Pidge covered her eyes from the flash of light, Yurak still screaming. Then it stopped. She looked back at the engine. Yurak was….. _gone_ . There wasn’t anything left. Breathing heavily, she looked at Allura. “We did it.” Nervous laughter. “A ha...ahahaha…. _we did it!_ ” The laughter became more genuine now, Allura joining in.

“Brilliant! Absolutely _brilliant_ , Pidge!” Pidge felt herself lifted into Allura’s arms, both of them laughing in thank-the-gods-we’re-alive relief.

As her laughter died down, Pidge found herself staring into Allura’s eyes. Compelled, she felt drawn towards Allura, eyes half-lidded. Allura looked surprised at first, but she smiled, and before Pidge knew what hit her, Allura was brushing her lips against hers.

The feeling was _electric_ , like a rollercoaster at the top of a rise just before it came down. It was the same thrill, the same _elation_ Pidge felt when she was flying Green. As she broke apart from Allura, every part of her felt….. _warm_. “ _Wow_ ,” was all she could say.

Allura was grinning, a light in her eyes. “Wow indeed.” Pidge noticed her frown. “Is your...hair alright? It seems to be sticking up more than usual.”

Pidge patted her hair with her gloves, then detached from Allura, getting down to retrieve her helmet. Her face reflected in the glass; the hair was indeed sticking up all over the place. “Hmmm….static electricity?” she offered. “Or maybe Alteans have more naturally produced electricity than humans…” Pidge grinned. “Guess that requires further study, huh?”

“You are _incorrigible,_ ” Allura said, attempting to sound stern, but she was laughing. “Perhaps we should check on your father and Lance. I do hope they did not get overrun.”

  
“Eh, they’re fine,” Pidge said, but got up anyway, slipping her hand into Allura’s. “Let’s go kick some ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun facts time! This was EASILY the hardest chapter to write outside of Rolo and Nyma's appearance, as it went through a number of setups before I was finally happy with it (the kiss went through a number of revisions as well). Originally they were already planet-side when Yurak made his attack, there was a Robeast involved....I boiled it down to the simplest premise, ultimately. Also, the jump Yurak attempts that is foiled by Allura's uppercut is a direct shot homage to the fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron in the 80s Transformers movie (YOU GOT THE TOUCH! YOU GOT THE POWER!).
> 
> One chapter left after this one! Time for our heroes to relax.


	12. Epilogue: Shut Up And Dance With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of relaxation to close out our story.

The cleanup had gone fairly well, Allura thought; they’d detached the ship and destroyed it after the castle had been purged of enemies. Apparently Matt had used the training room’s robots to take out a decent number. “Keith told me the level they try to kill you at,” he’d said with a smirk.

The Arusian village visit had also gone well. Pidge had enthused over the “basic but ingenious” engineering that kept the village running, and Sam had enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. Now Allura was looking over the systems for the ship on the main deck, preparing for departure that afternoon. Most of them looked to be in order, but it was always good to double check such things. The others were...well, she wasn’t actually sure. She believed Keith and Shiro were at the village currently at least.

“The hangars look like they’ve got some cameras down,” said a familiar voice, _very_ close.

“GAH!” Allura jumped back, heart thumping as she put a hand over her chest. Pidge had snuck up right next to her, quiet as one of the mice. “Don’t _do_ that.”

Pidge looked sheepish. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Outside of that,” she said, continuing her examination, “it all looks good to me.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Allura mused, once her…. _surprise_ had settled. She moved various parts around on the screen and brought up the connection feeds to the hangar cameras. Tapping again, the screens resumed their usual pattern. “There we go, good as new.”

“Break time?” Pidge suggested.

Allura switched the screens off, turning to Pidge. “Break time. Did you have anything particular in mind?”

There was heat on Pidge’s cheeks, but not the usual nervousness. “Well, I’ve been practicing something lately, and I kind of wanted to show you.”

“Oh?” Allura quirked an eyebrow as Pidge led her down the halls to….the training room? But neither of them were dressed in armor.

“I figure this is a big enough space for it,” the younger girl explained. Pidge clicked a button on the main console. “Like Lance said before, we deserved a break, don’t we?”

Music began pouring out of the walls. It was slow but sprightly instrumental. Pidge held out a hand, grinning. “Dance with me?”

Allura took her hand, moving into a standard position. “Would you like me to lead, then?”

“You’re probably better at it than I am,” Pidge mused, moving into a following position.

Allura took a step forward and...well, Pidge yelped in pain, so it couldn’t have been good.

“Sorry!” she said, wincing. “I suppose I’m a little rusty.”

Pidge waved it off, shaking her foot out. “I guess ten thousand years in cryofreeze will do that to you.” The dancing resumed, slow and awkward, but eventually they settled into a smooth rhythm.

“I didn’t know you could dance,” Allura confessed.

“I did a little bit of it when I was a kid, but Lance has really helped me out with it,” Pidge said, moving in a square in time. “He’s pretty good, honestly, even when he…. _improvises_.”

“Do you mean when he moves like a forkloff in its mating season?” Allura asked. " _That_ is meant to be dancing?”

“Surprisingly, yes.” The song came to a close, and Allura released Pidge, who went back over to the console.

“Maybe something a little more freestyle? Really get a workout going,” she suggested.

“I understand your ‘pop music’ is good for such things.”

Pidge nodded, then pressed a button. An upbeat song with electronic beats began playing: _I’ve got myself a notion/The one I know that you’ll understand/To set the world in motion/By reaching out for each other’s hands_. Allura watched Pidge start to sway to the music. “Well come on, you have to do it too!” Pidge encouraged.

Allura started to as well; she was so used to the formal Altean style of dancing that it was difficult to break out of those patterns. Pidge was so free-flowing now, moving her arms wildly and legs going so fast it was hard to keep track of the movements.

As the song moved into its first chorus ( _If we listen to each other’s heart/We find we’re never too far apart_ ), Allura found herself...loosening. She started copying some of Pidge’s moves, who grinned as she noticed.

“Oh, you wanna try and keep up, huh,” the younger girl taunted, immediately trying a more complicated move.

 _A competition, eh? Well, we’ll see who wins that_. Allura copied the move perfectly, looking smug, prompting even more wild gesticulating from Pidge.

Eventually the dance moves became, well, outright silly, and Allura found herself sweating as she now improvised moves, to which Pidge tried to imitate as well, and the back and forth continued as the song came to its climax. As it ended, Pidge twirled around Allura and they clasped hands together, bodies stretched out. Allura was now panting with exhaustion and, well, _excitement,_ as was Pidge, both with smiles on their faces.

Applause came from the other side of the room. Allura turned to see Lance and Hunk, clapping wildly.

“How long have you _been_ there?” Pidge asked as she moved out of her pose, sounding more curious than annoyed.

“Long enough,” Hunk said. “That was _amazing_. I didn’t know his lessons,” and he gestured to Lance, “would pay off _that_ well.”

“You have learned well, my pupil,” Lance said in an exaggerated voice, hands in his pockets. “Seriously, though, that was really cool. Didn’t know you could loosen up so well, princess.”

“I didn’t either,” Allura admitted. “I suppose that’s what happens when you have such a good partner.” She and Pidge shared a grin.

“Anddddddd we’re back to disgustingly cute,” Lance groaned. “Weren’t we leaving soon?”

“Yes, indeed,” Allura confirmed. “You should both prepare, and _you_ ,” she said to Pidge, “should go wash up.”

Pidge looked down at her now-sweaty clothes and grimaced. “Yeah, probably a good idea.”

As she watched the group leave, Allura sighed fondly to herself. Truthfully, she had no idea of how long this would last, but she did know one thing. Pidge was her green paladin, and even if this closer relationship fell apart, they would always be together in that respect. Come what may.

  
_THE END_ _(for now)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short this time, I know, but that's a wrap, folks! This was another chapter that took some difficulty to set up; it was a lot more elaborate and public originally, but I decided to make it more intimate. And yes, the song is that one from A Goofy Movie. Hush, I'm a 90s kid.
> 
> I'm not done writing Voltron fics, I should note. I'm taking a break from this continuity for a while to do some AU work, but there will be a semi-sequel to this at some point involving the "fantasy program" Keith asked Pidge to make. Let's just say it involves dice rolls.
> 
> Many thanks again to chipofmint for betaing the first chapter of this, TheEveling for betaing the rest, and everyone who left kudos and comments. I look forward to sharing my stories with you in the future.


End file.
